How to keep install base clean and slim?

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Oct 29, 2007, at 00:15, William Davis wrote:

> On Oct 29, 2007, at 12:58 AM, Tobias Weisserth wrote:
>
>> I have a very basic question that I couldn't answer for myself by  
>> looking at the port manpage or by searching the macports website.
>>
>> My install base is cluttered by many inactive versions of ports  
>> that I cannot uninstall without running in dependency problems.
>>
>> For example, this is a list of all the ports that I have installed:
>>
>> The following ports are currently installed:
>>  a2ps @4.13b_3 (active)
>>  aalib @1.4rc5_2 (active)
>>  apr @1.2.11_0 (active)
>>  apr @1.2.8_0
>>  apr @1.2.9_0

[snip]

>> How do I get rid of inactive, duplicate versions of ports that I  
>> have installed without hitting the dependency wall?
>>
>> For example, I have numerous versions of GTK installed:
>>
>>  gtk2 @2.10.13_0
>>  gtk2 @2.10.14_0
>>  gtk2 @2.12.0_0
>>  gtk2 @2.12.1_0 (active)
>>
>> Though I should only need the latest which is active.
>>
>> A "sudo port uninstall inactive" doesn't do the job. I have the  
>> feeling that macports is adding stuff to my system with every  
>> upgrade without getting rid of the old stuff and eating away at my  
>> hard drive space. What's the best way to solve this problem?
>>
>> thanks for your help,
>>
>> Tobias W.
>
> wont sudo port -df uninstall inactive do it?

Yes. No need for the -d part either.

> in the future instead of doing sudo port install foo
> why dont you use
> sudo port -duf foo
> which will uninstall the old version of foo,
> but -warning- Im new here myself. :)

Presumably you meant

sudo port -duf upgrade foo

but use of -f is not recommended if you don't also use -n. Otherwise  
you'll very likely get all the port's dependencies forcibly upgraded  
as well, quite possibly multiple times, whether or not they needed  
it. See:

http://trac.macports.org/projects/macports/ticket/12989