UI bug: "port selfupdate" misleads users into thinking the full installation is up to date

[McDutchie (Martijn Dekker)]

The "port selfupdate" command produces misleading output. As long as there is not a new release of the base installation, it always claims that the MacPorts installation is not outdated and the installation was not updated, even if it was. This can be demonstrated by running "port outdated" command before and after running selfupdate:

$ port outdated
No installed ports are outdated.
$ sudo port selfupdate
Password:

MacPorts base version 1.700 installed
Downloaded MacPorts base version 1.700

The MacPorts installation is not outdated so it was not updated
$ port outdated
The following installed ports are outdated:
bzip2                          1.0.5_1 < 1.0.5_2         
ghostscript                    8.64_0 < 8.64_1           
libpixman                      0.12.0_1 < 0.14.0_0       
xorg-libX11                    1.1.5_1 < 1.1.99.2_1      
xorg-libXext                   1.0.4_0 < 1.0.5_0         
xorg-libXfont                  1.3.4_1 < 1.3.4_2         
xorg-util-macros               1.2.1_0 < 1.2.1_1         
xorg-xcb-util                  0.3.2_0 < 0.3.3_0         
xorg-xextproto                 7.0.4_0 < 7.0.5_0         
xorg-xtrans                    1.2.2_0 < 1.2.3_0         
grote5:~ martijn$ 

I know about RTFA and I did, so I know it only means to talk about the base installation. But UI messages should not mislead users, not even those who don't read manuals. IMO, this is a UI bug, as an inexperienced user is likely to misunderstand and wonder why no ports are ever updated.

A few possible ways of fixing it:

• Reword the message to clearly refer only to the base installation, suggesting people should check for port updates separately
• Automatically run "port outdated" after the selfupdate routine to inform users of any outdated ports or the lack thereof
• Explicitly suggest running something like "port upgrade -u outdated" after every "port selfupdate"

[raimue (Rainer Müller)]

See r48123, r48127 and r48226.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

I think things are pretty clear after the aforementioned revisions.