PortAuthority

This would be quite nice if it were markedly less expensive, or free. For example, a freemium model might include 1 update per day or X installations per day and a paid version could take that limitation off, etc.

After thrashing around with this thing, I found it easier to simply use CLI commands. And I hate CLI commands.

I was a frequent user of PortAuthority, but this app is worthless now. I don't understand why developers insist on trying to do things the way this one has. If you can't design a UI window that provides functional feedback of the build process that is going on to install/update a port, then spawn a terminal window with running the commands instead. The app just crashes anytime I try to install anything, I can either wait 1-hour and force quit to try and use this "tool" (that I paid for), or I can simply run the command myself and have it actually complete the install in 5 minutes. This is on Lion, but the developer claims the latest version is compatible.

Use the official GUI: https://trac.macports.org/wiki/MacPortsGUI Don't pay for this crap.

PortAuthority 4.0 is a nice update to the MacPorts GUI. It modernizes the UI into a fully-native one with Cocoa toolbars; it improves the print engine; and it improves the under-the-hood integration with AppleScript commands, which improves speed and stability. It's worth a look.

What is wrong with just using the terminal?

In the interest of promoting open source, check out Porticus for a free MacPorts GUI tool. http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?arch=all&keywords=porticus&os=macosx

The interface is rather ugly looking for $20

No release notes? What's changed? It takes forever to launch, much more than the previous version (0.8). =\

Yes, I agree with the previous post. But I think that it could be avoided with a little more care about the released version or at least with documentation. I was using the previous version with no problem. After upgrade it won't launch (kept boucing in the Dock then nothing) in the first time I run it. It worked the second time.

Port Authority has the potential to be very useful. However, it has a number of quirks. For example, downloading it and placing it in Applications will result in it hanging on launch. The application needs to be inside a folder named "Port Authority", inside Applications in order to work properly. Also, sometimes it won't accept your password (as in, you can't physically enter it in the password field). Since it IS still a beta program, none of this should surprise you. If you prefer GUI to the command line, you should give this a try.