Re:Git? tig
by RBerenguel on Tuesday May 07, 2013 @11:18AM
(#5668527)
Fellow Mac user here... Have you tried homebrew? I had been using MacPorts until someone told me "Homebrew is far faster." And indeed, installing something on MP takes me ages, while on homebrew it's a matter of seconds
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Homebrew may be faster because it uses Apple-provided libraries. MacPorts builds its own libs. Why?
Apple has a habit of not updating the libraries in Mac OS X until absolutely necessitated by a security vulnerability.
https://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ#ownlibs
One other reason I use MacPorts is because I didn't like the idea of HB changing permissions of /usr/local:
HB may have changed this in the last couple years but I haven't bothered looking over the fence: MP has been near bulletproof for me, and has provided nearly everything relevant that I've needed.
fwiw I've been running homebrew out of my ~ folder without any problems, because I'm not a fan of that default either. But yeah, use what works :)
I really like that aspect of homebrew. I don't let anything else use /usr/local, and it means I can install things without using sudo, so no risk they are messing something up elsewhere in system directories.
But you risk the installation messing with your data and home directory. MacPorts uses sudo because it drops privileges to a specific 'macports' user for the build process and applies sandboxing. Therefore, the execution of Makefile rules and other build scripts cannot harm your data.