sudo port select --set db db48 does not work

[cazua.dsign@…]

After running sudo port select --set db db48, I get the following error

$ sudo port select --set db db48
Selecting 'db48' for 'db' failed: The configuration file '/opt/local/etc/select/db/base' could not be opened.

When I run ls /opt/local/etc/select/db/, I only get db48.

[mdeaudelin (Mathieu Deaudelin-Lemay)]

This is intended behaviour as it is no longer possible to set a default db port (r138309). See ticket #47921 for the reasoning behind this change.

The error message you should be seeing is actually :

Selecting 'db48' for 'db' failed: The specified group 'db' does not exist.

But you are getting another message instead since you have a leftover file in that directory (db48 was most likely installed on your system before July of this year).

[cazua.dsign@…]

I didn't install db48 before July though. I only recently started to install it few weeks ago, as I was intending to install OpenFOAM (​http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Installation/Mac_OS/OpenFOAM_2.3.x).

Since I'm having this error, would it affect my installation given in the link above?

[mdeaudelin (Mathieu Deaudelin-Lemay)]

The leftover file itself won't have any effect as it is in a directory which is only used by the port select command. While the change was made here on July 5th, MacPorts prefers to install precompiled packages if they are available for your system, and those were last built in November 2014, which explains why you have this file. If you install the port from source though, you won't get it.

The removal of db_select, however, could impact OpenFOAM, but only if they try to refer to any of these files when building:

/opt/local/include/db.h
/opt/local/include/db_cxx.h
/opt/local/lib/libdb.a
/opt/local/lib/libdb.dylib
/opt/local/lib/libdb_cxx.a
/opt/local/lib/libdb_cxx.dylib

Those were created by the port select command and won't exist anymore. The best way to know is to try installing OpenFOAM, and see if you get an error message related to one of these. The fix would then be to have OpenFOAM specify which version of the library it wants to use, as in:

/opt/local/include/db48/db.h
/opt/local/include/db48/db_cxx.h
/opt/local/lib/db48/libdb.a
/opt/local/lib/db48/libdb.dylib
/opt/local/lib/db48/libdb_cxx.a
/opt/local/lib/db48/libdb_cxx.dylib

But, if ever that is the case, then it would be an OpenFOAM problem and not a MacPorts problem.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

comment:1 and comment:3 are correct, the support files for select are still present in the binary archives of db48. That is only a cosmetic problem and will go away in the next version or revision update.