dbus cannot install without root privileges

[etlverified@…]

I have installed macports without root privileges by configuring it with "--with-no-root-privileges --with-install-user=$USER". This is an important use case; a number of developers at my company use macports this way (no root access).

I've found that a large number of useful packages depend on dbus (e.g. qt4-mac), which fails to install without root privileges:

--->  Activating dbus @1.4.12_0
Error: Target org.macports.activate returned: error copying "/Users/etl/macports/var/macports/software/dbus/1.4.12_0/Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist" to "/Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist": permission denied
Error: Failed to install dbus

Could you please make the dbus port somehow install when macports is not configured for root access? Something like qt4-mac is just a library; it shouldn't need administrator privileges to be installed. Similarly, pretty much every app from the GNOME desktop depends on dbus.

[mf2k (Frank Schima)]

Did you try the no_root variant?

[etlverified@…]

The no_root variant worked! Boy, I feel stupid :(

I always encountered dbus as a dependency of other ports, so I never thought to look at its variants. Once I installed dbus explicitly using the no_root variant, I am able to install dependent packages without problem.

Perhaps it would be nice if the no_root variant was the default variant if macports is built with "--with-no-root-privileges". That way installing any packages that depend on it would be transparent. dbus should at least have an error message pointing to the no_root variant if installation is attempted without administrator privileges.

Thanks!

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

Duplicate of #26742; please search before filing new tickets.