confused about macports

I am using MacBook Pro Mac OS 10.5 with related version of XCode. I am new to this development environment. I am learning macports, and I read i开发者_如何学JAVAnformation about macports from http://www.macports.org/. But I am still confused what macports is after reading information from this site.

I am previous working on Windows and Linux, could anyone let me know what macports is (in easy words) and what is the similar item on Windows/Linux?

thanks in avdance, George

macports is a way of getting executables and other compiled code installed on your computer without having to work out the details of compiling/linking each apllication.

It is equivalent to a package manager under Linux and other Unicies. There is no direct equivalent under Windows.

It is just a convenient way to install a lot of *nix soft on your mac book. They are installed separately (not overwriting) from binaries/daemons/libs already installed on your mac (by default in folder /opl/local). Also they are much fresher than those installed on your mac.

For example 10.6 ships with bash 3.2, but after running sudo port install bash, you will get version 4.x (to make it your default shell add /opt/local/bin/bash to file /private/etc/shells, run chsh -s /opt/local/bin/bash and reopen terminal).

Note other os x package managers: fink and homebrew (superuser question)