"MacPorts is an autarky -- you get a duplicate copy of zlib, OpenSSL, Python, etc. Homebrew uses what is already there, and consequently, most stuff has zero dependencies and builds faster."<p>MacPorts made the decision to package and version their own versions of everything for a reason. Conflicts can start to arise when you start compiling against Apple's default shipped libraries for X11, Python, etc. Especially if the default shipped versions don't provide what you need. E.g. the PHP install that shipped with Snow Leopard is missing several notable extensions.<p>It might be safe to ignore these issues now but as the app grows they will need to be addressed. (Or of course they can ignore it and just point to MacPorts as an alternative for some subset of packages).