Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

At the suggestion of my friend Chris, who posted a comment to my most recent MacPorts complaint, I contacted the maintainer of the post, Mark D. After a few e-mails between each other discussing the issue, Mark instructed me to add the following two lines to the end of /opt/local/var/macports/sources/
rsync.macports.org/release/ports/net/ntop/Portfile :

build.env-append MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET="10.3"
destroot.env-append MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET="10.3"

I added those lines and ntop finally compiled correctly… but it still didn’t work. Something about a GDBM error, which I didn’t record. So I removed MacPorts, reinstalled it, re-ran the ntop install, and it failed this time compiling Perl 5.8. Just to be super duper sure, I re-ran the install one more time and it finally installed a working ntop and all dependencies, as if Perl had never been a problem. What a load of crap that I have to go to such trouble.

I do want to thank ntop port maintainer Mark D. for his help. In his e-mail, Mark stated that he had not tested a compile of ntop on a PowerPC system because he has an Intel Mac, and that the necessary changes will be added to MacPorts and available in a few hours.

The error, for those who don’t know, and the Google page crawler, was

ld: flag: -undefined dynamic_lookup can't be used with MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET environment variable set to: 10.1

gnumake[2]: *** [libntop.la] Error 1
gnumake[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
gnumake: *** [all] Error 2

The whole point of attempting to compile ntop to begin with is because I’d like to create a sort of network appliance that I can plug into customer networks, consisting of a Mac mini and ntop, that would monitor and record their traffic for a certain amount of time and assist with troubleshooting and other issues. I’ll likely keep plugging away with MacPorts and compile an mpkg with ntop and its dependencies as universal binaries. However, I can’t recommend using MacPorts to install software on any kind of production server - it’s just too flaky. What I would recommend is to have a second machine to create mkpg files containing dependencies, and compiling those as universal binaries for storage and installation elsewhere, as I stated that I will do.

Brand new, clean install of MacPorts 1.5 on a Tiger 10.4.10 server. The command line I used:

sudo port -v install ntop

Lots of bits and pieces configure and compile for about 30 minutes, and it all ends with this:

gcc -dynamiclib -undefined dynamic_lookup -o .libs/libntop-3.3.dylib .libs/address.o .libs/argv.o .libs/dataFormat.o .libs/fcUtils.o .libs/getopt.o .libs/getopt1.o .libs/globals-core.o .libs/hash.o .libs/iface.o .libs/initialize.o .libs/l7.o .libs/leaks.o .libs/ntop.o .libs/pbuf.o .libs/database.o .libs/plugin.o .libs/prefs.o .libs/protocols.o .libs/sessions.o .libs/term.o .libs/util.o .libs/utildl.o .libs/traffic.o .libs/vendor.o .libs/version.o .libs/ntop_darwin.o /opt/local/lib/libart_lgpl_2.dylib /opt/local/lib/libz.dylib /opt/local/lib/libpng12.dylib /opt/local/lib/libfreetype.dylib -L/opt/local/lib -L/usr/local/lib -lpthread -lc -lssl /opt/local/lib/librrd_th.dylib /opt/local/lib/libgdbm.dylib -L/usr/lib -lnetsnmp -lcrypto -lz -lm -lwrap -lpcap -install_name /opt/local/lib/libntop-3.3.dylib

gnumake[2]: *** [libntop.la] Error 1
gnumake[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
gnumake: *** [all] Error 2

So I Google the error, read around a bit, and try this at the command line (per the suggestion of many sites):

export MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.4

It makes no difference. The compile still fails with the error:

MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET environment variable set to: 10.1

As a non-developer, I have no real idea what this error means or how to correct it. As I’ve stated before, it was my understanding that MacPorts was intended to make software compilation like this simple for those of us who are non-developers.

This kind of problem eventually happens every damn time I use MacPorts (and previously, Fink). Clean installs. Simple compilation of a common app. Utter failure and no real way to fix it.

The other surprising part of all this is that I am completely unable to find any kind of installer package for ntop 3.3 Is there really no alternative to MacPorts out there for this kind of useful software? I’m extremely pissed because MacPorts simply doesn’t work, and hasn’t and I keep getting sucked back into it because it appears to be the only way to install some applications that are very useful.

MacPorts people, wake the hell up. Fix your software. This is completely unacceptable. Why should it be this hard and this frustrating for me to install software with your port system?

PS: I just checked my own site, and the last time MacPorts pissed me off, it was for the same reason: An environment variable that was set wrong which prevents the software from compiling. Do you not test? Do you not read feedback from your users? Do your users not provide feedback? How does this kind of error make it to a production product? My server is nothing special, with no odd software or configuration, developer tools properly installed, the first MacPorts ever installed on this machine, and it’s broken. Unacceptable.

Yours truly will be co-hosting Your Mac Life once again this Wednesday, October 17, 8:30 PM EST. Tune in for hilarity, jocularity, the meaning of life, and a deep, meaningful, introspective discussion of the Apple-realted news of the day that can usually only be understood by those persons consuming mind-altering drugs. We dumb it all down a shade and think about the important points so you don’t have to. Fill yourself full of fulfillment, the kind that can only come from two adult men discussing a secretive computer company that is, at its most charitable, indifferent to their existence. O what fun it will be.

Pick your favorite Shawn King.