ncview fails to build if dependency is active

[thiagoveloso (Thiago V. dos Santos)]

Just tried to install ncview on a Yosemite Mac OS X. It fails with the following message:

Error: ncview cannot be built while hdf5 is active.
Error: Please forcibly deactivate hdf5, e.g. by running:
Error:
Error:     sudo port -f deactivate hdf5
Error:
Error: Then try again. You can reactivate hdf5 again later.
Error: Failed to configure ncview: hdf5 is active
Error: See /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_macports_release_tarballs_ports_science_ncview/ncview/main.log for details.
Error: Follow https://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets to report a bug.
Error: Processing of port ncview failed

I have attached main.log to this ticket. It works fine if I disable hdf5, attempt to install ncview again and then reactivate hdf5.

This ticket might be related to #54049, but looks more like a Macports thing that a dependency issue.

Any ideas?

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

The error message told you what to do to fix the problem.

[seanfarley (Sean Farley)]

Just to follow-up, yes this is working as intended. If you can figure out a way to force hdf5-18 to be linked over whatever is in /opt/local/lib then that would be a better solution (I tried this approach and it seems that the linking flags are hard to unmangle due to the way it finds libraries in /opt/local/lib). Alternatively, this will be fixed once we get rid of the hdf5-18 port entirely.

[thiagoveloso (Thiago V. dos Santos)]

Replying to seanfarley:

Just to follow-up, yes this is working as intended. If you can figure out a way to force hdf5-18 to be linked over whatever is in /opt/local/lib then that would be a better solution (I tried this approach and it seems that the linking flags are hard to unmangle due to the way it finds libraries in /opt/local/lib). Alternatively, this will be fixed once we get rid of the hdf5-18 port entirely.

Thanks for the explanation, Sean. It makes complete sense now.

I opened the ticket because I had never seen a Macports message like that before, but it is now crystal-clear to me that it's definitely part of the solution.