MacPorts is an excellent tool for Mac users to grab extra software without having to worry about working out the compile options and read endless instructions etc. As of today there are 5253 ports available for everything from apache2 to iphone apps. The beauty of installing anything from MP is it will install any dependancies as well. I've just upgraded one of our servers to Leopard, but MP didn't want to play anymore. Turns out there is a bug in handling the proxy settings. We have to use a proxy, so this is a show stopper. It looks like they will fix for the 1.8 release, but I can't wait!Thankfully a simple workaround exists, that requires you to edit /etc/sudoers.
sudo visudo (Don't use vim direct on /etc/sudoers)in the Default specification section add:
Essentially when you sudo port install apache2 sudo only takes a stripped down version of current environment variables, so even though you have set your all important $http_proxy, macports doesn't get it. Adding those two lines will fix that. Now install software galore!
Defaults env_keep += "http_proxy HTTP_PROXY HTTPS_PROXY FTP_PROXY"
Defaults env_keep += "ALL_PROXY NO_PROXY"
