OSX - How to search/install/update Macports packages

Having to use a mac has been rewarding for the functionality of OS X, state of the art hardware, reasonable price, and most of all (to us open source monkeys), free software. Free software on mac have always been a problem if the developer did not make it available on mac. Even though the source of the software are made available, it could still be a hassle to compile and debug. Thanks to MacPorts, all of this can be done in just a few words of execution.

The installation of MacPorts can be found here. Below are the common usage of MacPorts :

Search for available ports :

port -v search <port name>

e.g.

port -v search vim

Find out what variants a ports have :

port variants <port name>

e.g.

port variants apache2

Ports (or program) to install :

port -v install <port name>

e.g.

port -v install mysql

Ports with variants to install :

port -v install <port name> <+variant1 +variant2 +variant3 ...>

e.g.

port -v install mutt +nntp +imap +pop +ssl

Check out what ports installed needed to be upgrade :

port -v outdated

e.g.

port -v outdated

Upgrade the outdated ports :

port -v upgrade installed

e.g.

port -v upgrade installed

Upgrade the list of ports with the latest on macports repository :

port -v selfupdate

e.g.

port -v selfupdate

Hasta la vista !!!