Don't forget to Reply All so that your reply also goes to the mailing list. My replies are inline below. On Mar 25, 2008, at 22:42, istojic@gmail.com wrote:

Thanks for your answers, Ryan.

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 12:12 AM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:

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To uninstall a port foo, type "sudo port uninstall foo".

There is a bug where the files will not be properly uninstalled if you specify the case of the port name incorrectly. For example, if you install the port ImageMagick, but then say "sudo port uninstall imagemagick" (instead of "sudo port uninstall ImageMagick") the files will remain.

I performed the uninstall logged in as root, but otherwise the instruction matched what you suggested along with the correct case. Are there any other bugs that would cause the files to remain?

Not that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.

I had read that files would remain if they are dependencies for other ports.

If another port has a library or runtime dependency on the one you are trying to uninstall, MacPorts will prevent you from uninstalling the port.

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"sudo port install php5" installs a basic command-line version of php5 with features most users will want. "sudo port install php5 +apache2" installs command-line and apache2 versions of php5. "sudo port install php5 +apache2 +fastcgi +mysql5" installs command-line and apache2 and fastcgi versions of php5 which also include mysql5 support. None of the variants of the php5 port modify your php.ini, but there's also nothing that needs to be done to the php.ini to for example activate mysql5 support. It's not like on Windows where you need to load a separate DLL. When you select the +mysql5 variant, mysql5 support is simply built into the php5 library and/or binary. Does that explain it?

I'm still a bit confused. When I attempted to select the variants, it did things like create an apache directory with its own bin directory (apachectl, httpd, etc), httpd.conf, etc. This to me seems more like a duplicate installation of apache than it is compiling the appropriate PHP modules for apache. Does this make sense or am I explaining what I'm seeing poorly?

The php5 port does not install a directory called apache. The apache2 port does install a directory called apache2; maybe that's what you mean. If you install php5 +apache2, the apache2 port is built and installed for you (if you had not already done so). MacPorts is designed to use its own software, not Apple's software; see the FAQ for why. php5 +apache2 also builds and installs an apache2-compatible php5 module into that apache2 directory.