Migrating from MacPorts to Homebrew. Is there any specific advice in how to minimize disruption?

Solution 1:

Moving data is dependant on the application that manages it, e.g. if it's a database you could do a dump and restore it on the new installation, if it's a configuration file just copy it, etc.

HomeBrew packages create the config files for launchd in the Cellar (read: formula's install dir) and at the end of the install process display an how-to install those files (the caveats method in formulas source) which generally is a simple cp and launchctl sequence.

Creating formulas is indeed easy, and the developers will happily accept your new or updated formulas. The process is,

In summary: fork, clone, create, commit, push, audit (new-formula)

Last but not least: take a look at the wiki.

Solution 2:

A bit off-topic but wanted to share my experience on this topic. About 6month / a year ago, I decided to do some cleanup and uninstalled port and fink to the benefit of brew, which I prefer.

Today... Got the three again. Why?

• brew as my main source
• port provides MANY more packages than brew and I needed some of them (like wireshark+nox11)
• fink for some rare packages (I think I only reinstalled it for some dpkg utils)

Just my 2 cents, not everyone needs these packages. But before uninstalling port, check twice the packages you need ;)