Home • Process • Mac OS X • Perl • Java • Javascript • Web Apps • Zipcodes • Mapping

Max OS X Programming Notes

         I have been a Macintosh OS X user for about three years now, coming from a background more in UNIX than in Max OS. This page is primarily my notes on getting various UNIX packages and command-line tools to work on Mac OS X.

Open-Source Packages

         A warning: many of the packages built for previous versions no longer work on OS X version 10.2 ("Jaguar"). I get a number of dyld undefined symbols such as _tgetent, _tgetflag, and more. The System linked libraries in OS X have moved to separate libraries so the LDFLAGS and CFLAGS have to be set. The most common new settings are:

CFLAGS=-no-cpp-precomp
LDFLAGS=-ltinfo -lgcc
( setenv CFLAGS -no-cpp-precomp;setenv LDFLAGS '-ltinfo -lgcc')

If a program did not use any of libraries that were moved it still works on 10.2. Example :bzip2, gnutar, rpm etc.

• GNU Mac OS X Archive
  A big set of installation packages for lots of open-source tools.
• Ernie Rothman's UNIX User's Mac OS X Notes
  An in-depth look at dealing with UNIX utilities on OS X.
• Open Packages
  Open packages for both *BSD and Darwin.
• GNU-Darwin
  Another repository of GNU packages for OS X.
• macosx.forked.net
  A discussion and download area for open-source Mac OS X packages, hosted by Fork Networking.
• Fink
  This is a command-line tool/service which does a great many open-source installations automatically for Mac OS X. You should commit to this early, since it forms its own standards that can conflict with OS X ports by other groups.

Software

• MoreInternet
  A simple application for OS X, which is useful for fixing gaping security hole in Panther (OS X 10.3). The hole is described in this blog entry, along with links to a terrifying demo. In short, a web browser download can open the Help Application, which in turn can use AppleScript to open the terminal and do virtually anything.
• Softrak
  An online tool which tracks software available for Mac OS X.
• OpenOSX
  A commercial company which markets CD's of open-source packages prepared for the Mac.
• OS X Writing Tools
  A large index of native OS X utilities (both freeware and payware), categorized by whether they are Carbon or Cocoa, whether they include source, and the license.
• Quicksilver
  A very smart launcher which understands both the shell and AppleScript. There is an online tutorial.

Tweaks

• AirPort Software Base Station
• Mac OS X Jaguar Tweaks
• Hosts File (blocking popups)
• X On Mac OS X article