Yup Macports would upgrade everything and break stuff like FFI code. That is exactly why I prefer to use a Linux LTS release like Debian, Ubuntu or even openSuS

Yup Macports would upgrade everything and break stuff like FFI code. That is exactly why I prefer to use a Linux LTS release like Debian, Ubuntu or even openSuSE Leap with it's 18 month release cycle and uneventful upgrades that you can now even roll back.