#46029: port submission: qtchooser --------------------------+-------------------------------- Reporter: rjvbertin@… | Owner: macports-tickets@… Type: submission | Status: new Priority: Normal | Milestone: Component: ports | Version: 2.3.3 Resolution: | Keywords: Port: qtchooser | --------------------------+-------------------------------- Comment (by rjvbertin@…): Replying to [comment:18 larryv@…]:
Okay, except that this port sounds an awful lot like the `perl5` one, and we very much want to avoid that type of mess again.
I don't know what perl5 mess you are referring to, but I imagine it must have to do with the potentially huge body of perl scripts delivered by ports which can be dependencies for other ports. Qt is not an interpreter and while you can draw a parallel between a port providing a set of libraries that depend on Qt (and hence a specific Qt version) the potential mess is much smaller because Qt guarantees backward compatibility inside a major version. As long as MacPorts doesn't provide separate, coinstallable ports for minor Qt releases, port:qtchooser should not create any messes. At least not as long as Qt-dependents use the Qt Portgroups and either the specific `qmake` (or CMake modules) for which the Portgroups define variables. `qtchooser` just allows the user to fire up the appropriate, say, Designer application from a shell (`designer -qt=<version>`), or to configure a software project against a Qt install of choice (`qmake -qt=<version>`). Users who really know what they're doing can even use the qtchooser command itself to define an environment for an official (e.g. a commercial) Qt install so that they can configure source to build against that using the same `qmake` proxy in ${prefix}/bin. The resulting binaries will of course depend on the external Qt libraries. It's a convenience utility that is very much intended for developers (but not as a potential dependency for other ports :)). -- Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/46029#comment:20> MacPorts <https://www.macports.org/> Ports system for OS X