Hi there!
I am currently a pc user, and just ordered a mac mini.
Will standard unix software work on MacOS-X, if the libraries needed to compile are present for the ppc architecture?
Also, is there standard software like webservers, ssh daemon etc. included?
thx!
David
Comments
All the standard UNIX utilties are pre-loaded on machines that ship with OSX, although they are an optional install if you re-install OSX from the CDs ("BSD Subsystem"). This includes your shells (bash, tcsh, etc.), system utilties, text editors, all the usual stuff. OSX also comes pre-loaded with Apache, sshd and ftpd. You can turn these process on and off with one mouse click in the Sharing panel of System Preferences. "Personal web sharing" is Apache, "Remote Login" is sshd, etc. All the usual congifuration files still exist, so if you want to fine-tune your Apache webserver you can edit the files in /etc/httpd/; and if you want to restrict which accounts can use remote login, you can edit /etc/sshd_config. They behave exactly like their standard UNIX counterparts, becuase they are their standard UNIX counterparts. Incidentally, this also means they are as secure as their UNIX counterparts.
Beyond the standard installs, most major FS/OSS packages have official OSX ("Darwin") ports. MySQL, for example, has a MySQL port that comes with a OSX-standard clickable installer. You can then interact with it from the command-line like you would on any UNIX platform. Any application that is command-line only will usually compile with little or no trouble. GUIs are a little different, since the the standard OSX GUI system, Aqua and Quartz, is used only by Apple. Fortunately, Apple has created their own offical X11 port, so that X11 apps like OpenOffice.org and Gimp can run with little hassle. Some large packages have gone to the trouble of creating a native OSX port, complete with Aqua GUI - like the various Mozilla derivatives and the NeoOffice/J port of OpenOffice.org. Many often-used command line programs will also have OSX-native GUI wrappers - applications that let you interact with the command-line program through a nice GUI interface. There are several such wrappers available for MySQL, should you not want to plunge into the command line with it. You can find many such programs at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Finally, there are at least two package-management systems that have been ported to OSX. Both are derivaties of Linux utilities. The dean of the field is Fink, which uses the Debian package-management system (apt-get). There is a GUI wrapper for Fink called FinkCommander. New to the field is a Darwin port of Gentoo's Portage (emerge). Portage doesn't have a GUI wrapper (yet). Either lets you easily download, compile and install a wide variety of pre-tested UNIX packages on your Mac.
Edited to add linkeys
Thx for the info.
Sounds like you there is a look&feel gui with the underlying capabilities of a full featured unix. I like that ;-)
David
Originally posted by Incoming
Thx for the info.
Sounds like you there is a look&feel gui with the underlying capabilities of a full featured unix. I like that ;-)
Me too.
I do wish there were more Mac packages, but that should come with time.
Originally posted by Kesh
Towel, I could kiss you! I've heard about Portage for a long time, but never knew there was a Mac version. Installed it last night, and it automatically updated my copy of wget that I had installed through Fink.
I do wish there were more Mac packages, but that should come with time.
Cool.
But, like I said, there's not a lot of Mac-ready software on it just yet.