PortAuthority provides a graphical user interface for the MacPorts package management system for Mac OS X. MacPorts is a powerful command-line tool for installing and updating a variety of Unix-based applications for the Mac. Its power, though, comes at the cost of some complexity; in the past the only way to utilize MacPorts was to type in various commands into the Mac's Terminal application, which can be intimidating for those users without a Unix background. PortAuthority aims to bring the power of MacPorts to the traditional Mac user by providing a user-friendly graphical interface to MacPorts. Using a familiar combination of windows, icons, and menus, PortAuthority users can search, install, update, and remove MacPorts programs and the MacPorts infrastructure itself.
What's new in this version:
he major feature of this release is streamlined under-the-hood support for AppleScript and some minor bug fixes.
v5.0 [May 18, 2012]
- Support for installing port variants.
- Port dependency command now lists dependencies recursively--not just the direct dependencies of a port, but their dependencies as well--to get a better idea of how large an installation may be.
- Alerts are now configured in preferences.
- Expanded AppleScript support.
- Restored Growl support.
- More responsive display of data from long-running scan: less prone to lock up program.
- Fix bug in auto-update.
