make port to install to a different PREFIX

[Vizion]

On Friday 07 October 2005 11:12,  the author Fernan Aguero contributed to the 
dialogue on-
 Re: make port to install to a different PREFIX: 

>Thanks Kris and Roman for the suggestions, and sorry for the
>delay in replying. I'm not there yet, but I've made some
>progress and found the reason for why setting PREFIX in
>CONFIGURE_ARGS doesn't work. Read on,
>
>+----[ Kris Kennaway <kris at obsecurity.org> (04.Oct.2005 11:16):
>| On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 11:28:30AM +0200, Roman Neuhauser wrote:
>| > # fernan at iib.unsam.edu.ar / 2005-10-03 15:49:04 -0300:
>| > > I'm the maintainer of the biology/emboss port. The port
>| > > installs by default to $PREFIX which, in most cases should
>| > > be $LOCALBASE (i.e. /usr/local).
>| > >
>| > > EMBOSS is a big package, with lots of executable files. It
>| > > is thus not surprising that some of the executables have the
>| > > same name as those installed by other ports.
>| > >
>| > > Right now these are the recorded conflicts:
>| > > CONFLICTS=      nss-* qmail-ldap2-* digest-*
>| > >
>| > > To work around this, I was thinking about installing
>| > > biology/emboss by default to PREFIX/emboss.
>| > > However, I'm having problems in getting this to work.
>| > >
>| > > This does not work:
>| > > CONFIGURE_ARGS+= --prefix=${PREFIX}/emboss
>
>Actually this should be correct. Without redefining PREFIX
>adding just this one line should do it. Several other ports
>install to a different prefix by default by doing just this:
>grep -rH 'CONFIGURE_ARGS.*--prefix=${PREFIX}/${PORTNAME}' /usr/ports
>
>However ... it seems like there's a subtle overlay of
>
>effects going on here:
>| > > and neither does this:
>| > > PREFIX?= ${PREFIX}/emboss
>| > >
>| > > because obviously 'Variable PREFIX is recursive.'
>| >
>| >     Either use PREFIX?=${LOCALBASE}/emboss, or use another approach (IMO
>|
>| This is wrong.  Ports install into PREFIX, not LOCALBASE.
>
>OK, yes, we should not fiddle with LOCALBASE :)
>
>| >     better, but depends on whether the configure script supports it):
>| >     CONFIGURE_ARGS+=--program-prefix=emboss-
>
>I discarded this option, since it would mean that emboss
>apps would have different names in FreeBSD. I prefer to have
>it installed someplace else, with the names of apps
>unchanged. This would save some pain to users that come from
>other unices.
>
>| Yes, you need to force the vendor software to install where you tell
>| it to.  Once you figure out how the software installs itself into a
>| directory of your choosing, just do
>
>Actually, as said above, passing --prefix=${PREFIX}/emboss
>to CONFIGURE_ARGS should do that. In fact, if I compile
>emboss on its own (without using the ports system),
>configure does honour --prefix=/whateverpath and, as
>expected, installs correctly in that place.
>
>The problem appears when I use the ports system. I test the
>port by doing: 'make install PREFIX=/usr/tmp/ports'
>expecting that the port would be installed to
>/usr/tmp/ports/emboss (because of CONFIGURE_ARGS).
>
>However this doesn't happen. For some reason, things get
>installed into /usr/tmp/ports.
>
>Whatever prefix you specify in CONFIGURE_ARGS is ignored.
>Why this happens is evident when you look at the resulting
>config.log file
>
>  $ ./configure --prefix=/usr/tmp/ports/emboss
>  --x-libraries=/usr/X11R6/lib
>  --x-includes=/usr/X11R6/include --prefix=/usr/tmp/ports
>  i386-portbld-freebsd4.11
>
>the first specification of --prefix is the one set in
>CONFIGURE_ARGS, the second is the one added by bsd.port.mk
>(either the default or the one set in the command line or
>environment), thus overriding CONFIGURE_ARGS.
>
>Maybe I should set CONFIGURE_ARGS absolutely? Right not I'm
>using '+=' to set CONFIGURE_ARGS to preserve whatever
>bsd.port.mk would like to add here ...
>
>Anyway, it seems like this has bitten others:
>http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-ports/2005-June/024096.html
>http://www.monkey.org/openbsd/archive/ports/9904/msg00071.html
>
>In the last thread referenced above, it is suggested that setting
>PREFIX:= ${PREFIX}/${PORTNAME}
>could be a solution. I've tried this and it works for
>the installation step, but not at deinstall:
>===> emboss-3.0.0 has a different PREFIX: /usr/tmp/ports/emboss, skipping
>
>Is there a solution that I've missed? Or maybe we should
>have a discussion to bring something like
>GNU_CONFIGURE_PREFIX used by NetBSD (mentioned in the first
>message referenced above).
>
>| EMBOSS_PREFIX?=${PREFIX}/emboss
>|
>| and install into ${EMBOSS_PREFIX}.
>|
>| Kris
>
>+----]
>
>Again, any help would be appreciated. Thanks,
>
I cannot add to the "how to fix this" debate but I can add to the discussion 
the frustration I have felt with a number of applications where ports do not 
enable one to install in the needed location. My own experience relates 
particularly to the /ports/www/ hierarchy where the need to install across 
filing systems and parallel to /usr/local e.g. /usr2/virtualwebs is 
frequently required.

david

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