MacPorts 1.8.0

MacPorts 1.8.0 is an open-source community that aims to design an easy-to-use system for compiling, installing, and upgrading either command-line, X11 or Aqua based open-source software on the Mac OS X operating system.

The aim of the MacPorts project is to develop a second-generation system for the building, installation and management of third party software.

MacPorts is probably best described by comparison: It's sort of like the FreeBSD ports collection or Fink in that it automates the process of building third party software for Mac OS X. MacPorts also tracks all dependency information for a given piece of software. In other words, it knows what it needs to build and install and in what order for the piece of software you want to work properly.

MacPorts knows how to make, build and install the software to a specific location, meaning that software installed via MacPorts doesn't simply scatter itself all over the system or require user knowledge of dependencies in what order.

Major Features:

1. Installs automatically any required support software, known as dependencies, for a given port.
2. Provides for uninstalls and upgrades for installed ports.
3. Confines ported software to a private “sandbox” that keeps it from intermingling with your operating system and its vendor-supplied software to prevent them from becoming corrupted.
4. Allows you to create pre-compiled binary installers of ported applications to quickly install software on remote computers without compiling from source code.

Requirements:

• Apple's Xcode Developer Tools (version 3.2 or later for Snow Leopard, 3.1 or later for Leopard, or 2.4.1 or later for Tiger), found at the Apple Developer Connection site or on your Mac OS X installation CDs/DVD.
• The X11 windowing environment (A.K.A. “X11 User”) for ports that depend on the functionality it provides to run.  
• • The “X11 User” package is an optional installation on your system CDs/DVD for Tiger, enabled through the “Customize” button of the installer, whereas it is included by default on Leopard and Snow Leopard.
  • You can use the xorg-server port instead of installing Apple's X11 package if you wish.