PortAuthority provides a GUI for the MacPorts Unix software management system for Mac OS X. MacPorts is a powerful command-line tool for installing and updating a variety of Unix-based applications for the Mac. Its power, though, comes at the cost of some complexity; in the past the only way to utilize MacPorts was to type in various commands into the Mac's Terminal application. PortAuthority aims to bring the power of MacPorts to the traditional Mac user by providing a user-friendly GUI to MacPorts.