On Oct 18, 2011, at 4:03 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:

> We should keep the discussion on the list; use "Reply All" when you reply.
> 
> 
> On Oct 18, 2011, at 17:23, Michael O'Brien wrote:
> 
>> On Oct 18, 2011, at 3:03 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
>> 
>>> On Oct 18, 2011, at 16:54, Michael O'Brien wrote:
>>> 
>>>> So, question: If I use Macports to create a package file, or a metapackage 
>>>> file, how can I then create an UN-installer for it?
>>> 
>>> As was already said, OS X does not include an uninstaller. There are some 
>>> 3rd-party uninstallers available I think. They read the bom files (bill of 
>>> materials) the installer leaves behind. On Snow Leopard and later, you can 
>>> find the bill of materials files in /var/db/receipts. On Leopard and 
>>> earlier, they're in /Library/Receipts.
>>> 
>>>> I don't want to just blindly remove all of /opt/local.  I just want to 
>>>> remove exactly the set of files that were installed by the (meta)package.
>>> 
>>> If you distribute a binary package, please create the package from a 
>>> MacPorts installation whose prefix is NOT /opt/local, otherwise you will 
>>> interfere with users who want to also use MacPorts.
>> 
>> The package is for use ONLY on Macs which do NOT have MacPorts installed.  
>> We tried moving the directory and ran into too many problems.  Those who 
>> have Macports installed get to use the actual Portfile, or (when ports gets 
>> upgraded) the generated archives.
>> 
>> I'm grotting around looking for the receipt files now.  Thanks!  I hadn't 
>> realized they'd moved.
> 
> I understand that your intention is that your installer only be used by 
> people who don't use MacPorts. Indeed that would be the point of most binary 
> installers. But users' needs change; perhaps a user who does not currently 
> use MacPorts will want to in the future, and they might not know how to 
> uninstall your version, might not know that they should uninstall your 
> version first, or might not even remember that they had installed your 
> version at all. We've already fielded so many problem reports from users in 
> this situation that we have a wiki entry about it:
> 
> https://trac.macports.org/wiki/ProblemHotlist#xmlwf
> 
> We would appreciate it if you would not increase our future support workload, 
> and pick a different prefix for your binaries, such as /opt/yourpackage or 
> /usr/local/yourpackage. That is: install a fresh MacPorts, built from source, 
> with "./configure --prefix=whatever". Then build your packages using that 
> MacPorts. I would not anticipate that you would run into any problems by 
> doing so.

The package has already been deployed, so that horse has left the barn.  
Installation of MacPorts should, as I understand it, be stone ignorant of 
existing packages installed sans MacPorts; they're not in the MacPorts 
installed-package DB, assuming it has one.  If it doesn't, then oops.  Frankly, 
it's one reason why we'd like an uninstaller.
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