MacPorts, formerly DarwinPorts, is a package manager for macOS and Darwin. It is an open-source software project that aims to simplify the installation of other open source software. It is similar in function to Fink and the BSD ports collections.

MacPorts supports universal binaries for PowerPC, Intel-based, and Apple silicon versions of macOS, but migrating from a PowerPC installation of MacPorts to a version on an Intel Mac requires reinstalling all installed ports.

There are three main usage modes of port that assist in updating installed software:

As an example, one common task is to update outdated ports. This can be done by running the following:

MacPorts supports logical operators such as and, or and not, as well as glob patterns (enabled by default) and regex (enabled via --regex). For instance, to update outdated ports excluding all PHP versions, change the above command to the following:

Users can indicate one or more packages that they wish to install via the install mode, and MacPorts will aim to install them and its dependencies. For example, both LibreOffice and Texmaker can be installed by running the following:

Note that this will install the latest version as indicated by the local ports tree. Running selfupdate beforehand will make sure that the downloaded package is the newest version in MacPorts.

Variants provide different options that may be invoked when installing a port. Common actions include adding or removing dependencies and changing build arguments. They provide additional functionality that might not necessarily be useful for all users, but can be useful for others.