Oops. Resending to the list with the correct address minus the cc's.
Have various dependency questions here. I couldn't find info on this in the new guide.
Why do we have depends_lib, depends_build and depends_run? Why not just a single "depends"? Why does it matter which phase requires the other software? Isn't it enough to know that the other software is required at some point, and so MacPorts should install that other software first?
What are these three keywords supposed to denote? I thought "depends_lib" was for libraries a program links with (e.g. gettext), "depends_build" was for things only the build system needs (e.g. pkgconfig) and "depends_run" was for binaries that need to be present at runtime (e.g. I have no idea).
I have the same questions. I would really like to get accurate information on this into the new guide. The only section of the old guide relating to it that I can find is not helpful: http://geeklair.net/macports_guide/ch03.html#additional%20options The portfile.7 has more (pasted below), but is there any real functional difference between these? It seems llike they are functionally the same in practice and ports listed as dependencies all get installed before any phases of a port are begun. Were the three distinguished for some future use not yet implemented? Can someone explain this so it can be documented? Mark depends_build List of dependencies to check before build, destroot, install, and package targets. Type: optional Example: depends_build port:autoconf depends_run List of dependencies to check before destroot, install and package targets. Type: optional Example: depends_run port:bash depends_lib List of dependencies to check before configure, build, destroot, install, and package targets. Type: optional Example: depends_lib port:libfetch