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<section id="reference.variables">
  <title>Global Variables</title>
 
  <para>Global variables are variables available to any Portfile. For a list
  of additional variables available to ports that are assigned to a MacPorts
  Portgroup, see portgroup(7).</para>
 
  <para>All of these variables except <varname>prefix</varname> are
  read-only!</para>
 
  <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
      <term>prefix</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Installation prefix, set in
        <filename>${prefix}/etc/macports/macports.conf</filename> —may be
        overridden on a per port basis. For example, aqua applications are
        installed in <filename>/Applications/MacPorts</filename>.</para>
 
        <para>Default: <filename>/opt/local</filename></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>x11prefix</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Absolute path to X11.</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>libpath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Path to the MacPorts TCL libraries.</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>binpath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>The directory search path for locating system executables
        (rsync, tar, etc.) during port installation. Only applications in
        these directories are available while ports are being installed even
        if other paths are specified by $PATH in a user's environment.</para>
 
        <para>Default:
        ${prefix}/bin:${prefix}/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:${x11prefix}/bin</para>
 
        <note>
          <para>The binpath is implicitly defined, but it may be overwritten
          by defining the variable in macports.conf. However, using a
          non-default binpath is discouraged and should only be performed by
          advanced users.</para>
        </note>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>portpath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Full path to the Portfile of the port being executed. Portfile
        repositories are defined in the file <link
        linkend="internals.configuration-files.sources-conf">sources.conf</link>.</para>
 
        <para>Default:
        <filename>${prefix}/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/<replaceable>&lt;category&gt;</replaceable>/<replaceable>&lt;portname&gt;/</replaceable></filename></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>filesdir</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Path to files directory relative to
        <varname>${portpath}</varname>.</para>
 
        <para>Value: <literal>files</literal></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>filespath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Full path to files directory.</para>
 
        <para>Value: <varname>${portpath}/${filesdir}</varname></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>workpath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Full path to work directory.</para>
 
        <!-- TODO: what is ${portbuildpath}? -->
 
        <para>Value: <varname>${portbuildpath}/work</varname></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>worksrcpath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Full path to extracted source code.</para>
 
        <para>Value: <varname>${workpath}/${worksrcdir}</varname></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>destroot</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Full path into which software will be destrooted.</para>
 
        <para>Value: <varname>${workpath}/destroot</varname></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>distpath</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Location to store downloaded distfiles.</para>
 
        <!-- TODO: which value have the variables? -->
 
        <para>Value:
        <varname>${sysportpath}/distfiles/${dist_subdir}/</varname></para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>install.user</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>The Unix user at the time of port installation.</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>install.group</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>The Unix group at the time of port installation.</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>os.platform</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Identifies platform type (ie "darwin", "freebsd", etc).</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>os.arch</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Identifies hardware type (ie "powerpc", "intel").</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>os.version</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>The version number of the host operating system (ie "8.0" for
        Darwin 8.0).</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>os.endian</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>Endianness of the processor (ie "bigEndian").</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
      <term>os.major</term>
 
      <listitem>
        <para>The major version number of the host operating system (ie "8"
        for Darwin 8.0).</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
</section>