port inactive list port's active version, not the inactive installed versions

[tommyd@…]

The output of port list inactive lists wrong versions

$ port list inactive | grep monotone
monotone                       @0.48           devel/monotone
monotone                       @0.48           devel/monotone
monotone                       @0.48           devel/monotone

while I'm hinted at the correct versions on uninstall:

$ sudo port uninstall monotone
--->  The following versions of monotone are currently installed:
--->      monotone @0.45_0
--->      monotone @0.46_0
--->      monotone @0.47_0
--->      monotone @0.48_0 (active)

[dbevans (David B. Evans)]

According to the port man page, port list

displays a list of the latest version of all available ports.  
If portname(s) are given as arguments, display a list of the latest
     version of each port.

So displays the lastest version available of the inactive ports in your case.

To see the installed versions of the inactive ports

port echo inactive

[tommyd@…]

Ok, then the "inactive" selector makes either no sense for port list or port list should gain another column which shows the version of the actually listed port, no?

[danielluke (Daniel J. Luke)]

Replying to tommyd@…:

Ok, then the "inactive" selector makes either no sense for port list or port list should gain another column which shows the version of the actually listed port, no?

No, it just doesn't work the way you expect.

'list' tells you the latest version of a port or ports.

'inactive' expands to all of your inactive ports.

'port list inactive' tells port to give you the latest versions of all of your inactive ports.

you really want 'port echo inactive'