Can't install octave packages with octave-devel installed

[mark brethen]

There is a conflict when trying to install octave packages (e.g. octave-general) if octave-devel is installed.

Mark-Brethens-MacBook-Pro:group marbre$ sudo port -v install octave-generalPassword:
--->  Computing dependencies for octave-general..Error: Unable to execute port: Can't install octave because conflicting ports are installed: octave-devel

I can understand why you should not be able to install octave if octave-devel is already installed, but the packages will work with either version. Can the 'conflicts' keyword be suppressed?

-Mark