upgrading ports with a lot of dependencies

[Jim Pazarena]

My question is a general one, with the following specific example.

I wanted to re-compile the latest phpmyadmin
but when I tried that, I get a "you must have the latest php5" (5.4.6)

when I try php5
I get a dependency of devel/pkgconf

when I compile pkgconf, it conflicts with devel/pkg-config

Upon investigation it looks like pkg-config is replaced with pkgconf
however attempting to remove it show dozens of dependencies preventing
the removal.

I find this series of challenges frequently as installs move along
in age, and usually wind up re-loading the entire server to beat the
challenge.

There must be an easier way. Advice would be greatly appreciated.