Prerequisites

Before anything, you will need a recent Mac OS X system, X11 and Xcode developer tools:

Operating System

MacPorts supports the latest two version of Mac OS X. By the time of writing:

• Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

If you are running Mac OS X 10.4, you may experience severe problems when building complex packages.

X11

To use MacPorts, you will need to install Apple X11 server:

• Insert the “Mac OS X Install Disk” and run the package named “Optional Installs”.
• At the software section, expand the Applications section and click to enable X11.
• Click Install to install X11.

Xcode developer tools

To use MacPorts, you will need to install XCode tools:

• Download Xcode Tools for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).
• Run the Xcode Tools package installer.
• Click the button Customize, expand the Applications section and click to enable X11 SDK.
• Verify that the option Unix Development in the Xcode 3.x installer is checked.
• Click Install to install Xcode Tools and the X11 SDK.

When this is finished, you probably did the hardest part of the installation.