"port uninstall inactive" unable to remove p5-xml-parser

[sam.halliday@…]

When running the above command, I get the following failure, which happens quite often (not always the same packages)

$ sudo port uninstall inactive
--->  Unable to uninstall p5-xml-parser @2.400.0_4, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	policykit @0.103_1
Error: org.macports.uninstall for port p5-xml-parser returned: Please uninstall the ports that depend on p5-xml-parser first.
Please see the log file for port p5-xml-parser for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_registry_portfiles_p5-xml-parser_2.400.0_4/p5-xml-parser/main.log
Warning: Failed to execute portfile from registry for p5-xml-parser @2.400.0_4
--->  Unable to uninstall p5-xml-parser @2.400.0_4, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	policykit @0.103_1
Error: port uninstall failed: Please uninstall the ports that depend on p5-xml-parser first.

I consider this to be a bug because nothing should be marked as "inactive" if it is actually being used by something else.

In order to uninstall any other "inactive" ports (if there are any), I usually have to specify their version number, e.g. sudo port uninstall py27-lxml @2.3_0

FYI...

$sudo port list inactive
p5-xml-parser                  @2.400.0        perl/p5-xml-parser

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

It was an error for a dependency on p5-xml-parser to have been added to the policykit port. #34731 is the ticket requesting that this be fixed.

FYI, "port list" doesn't do what you think it does.

[ShadSterling (Shad Sterling)]

Related: #56234 - Inactive port can't be uninstalled after replacement is installed