PortAuthority for Mac

User Reviews

• Crashes on Startup

  Bueller_007March 14, 2010

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This program is still as useless as it always was. Crashes on startup. (And yes, MacPorts is already installed.)

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• Crashes always

  CRLLENAugust 4, 2007

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  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Crashes on Start up? I cannot get it to run

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• Crashes always

  CRLLENAugust 4, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Crashes on Start up? I cannot get it to run

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• Overpriced ugly duckling

  jmpiazzaOctober 3, 2006

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  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is a first impressions review. The good news is that I can say that it hasn't crashed. Not yet, anyway. And it does seem to allow a Port to download and install properly. It was extremely sluggish at startup (1 GHz G4, 10.4.7). Perhaps it was downloading ports information. If it was, I didn't see any indication it was doing so. It could take 10 seconds or more to respond to a mouse click. The interface doesn't look good. The Preferences dialog is displayed at first launch. It uses a questionable window type and everything is crammed into a small space; there is virtually no space between the controls and the window edge. Presented with the main window, it's difficult to ascertain how it's supposed to work. Starting from the left side of the toolbar, the Install, Delete, Info, Kill button cluster is easy enough to figure out. The next toolbar control is a combobox. It is NOT for searching for names of the ports. It appears to be a category filter since the drop down shows a list of categories. Except it doesn't work either by selecting a list item or by entering text. The next best way to find what I was looking for was to sort the list of available ports by clicking on the column heading as many apps allow. Except it didn't sort properly by name, but as a secondary sort though to what I'm not quite sure. It was then that I noticed that flush against the right side of the tool bar was a proper search box. It simply did not register upon the visual cortex of my brain. I entered a search term and it worked. At last. I selected the item I wanted and clicked on the Get Info button. The information appeared in the main pane in the lower right. Except the text doesn't wrap. I clicked on the Install button and it is now doing it's thing. At least it does what it's supposed to do. This time, at least. In conclusion, this app may be programmed to be "aqua-native" but it certainly doesn't adhere to Aqua layout standards. Simple searching and sorting functions do not work reliably and the text display doesn't wrap long lines. This app is clearly a beta, at best, yet is not is listed as such. The downloaded app is named "Port_Authority_Demo" (yes, it uses underscores). I can't imagine even being tempted to pay the $18.75 shareware fee; certainly not in its present form. The audacity of the author to charge for this doesn't lead me expect much improvement.

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