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How Good Of A Unix Is Mac OS X ?

Posted by timothy on from the no-GNU-is-bad-gnews-but-other-than-that dept.

Anonymous Coward writes: "Greg Knauss, a UNIX guy from way back and a contributor to Suck, TeeVee, creator of Metababy, etc., has written a piece for Macworld.com. He looked at the Unix underneath the new Mac OS X Public Beta and has generally positive things to say, with a few caveats." Among these shortcomings are the lack of the GNU tools, about which Knauss says "... [W]hile the arrival of the GNU tool set -- the mainstay of Unix development -- is inevitable, it's a shame that Apple didn't see fit to include it in the Mac OS X beta."

4 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. My Innocent Comment by Outlyer · · Score: 5

    Perhaps they were afraid that, by including the GNU tools, Stallman would badger them into calling it GNU/MacOS X :)

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  2. Sit back and laugh by KFury · · Score: 5

    This is the most entertaining Slashdot discussion I've ever read.

    On one hand, you have Unix weenies who will swear forever that MacOS is as stupid and lame as a jar of rocks painted like jellybeans, even when they themselves have to resort to FUD.

    On the other you have people who have actually taken a look at OS X and can see that Apple's done a remarkable job at modernizing their OS to a Unix kernel.

    Apple's finally succeded at breaking the Unix ranks into those who like Unix because it's better and those who like Unix because it makes them feel superior.

    Kevin Fox

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    Kevin Fox
  3. Putting the Gnu back in OS X by Demona · · Score: 5

    Follow the instructions here to restore the Unix development toolkit to OS X.

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    Fuck Slashdot
  4. Compiler/dev tool availability by TheInternet · · Score: 5

    And while the arrival of the GNU tool set -- the mainstay of Unix development -- is inevitable, it's a shame that Apple didn't see fit to include it in the Mac OS X beta.

    The reason for this may be so that mortal users are not expected to actually compile their own software to use it. Example: Windows doesn't come with compilers, so virtually all Windows software (even Apache, PHP, etc.) come in binary form.

    From what I understand, the dev tools: Project Builder and friends (and even gcc, etc) will be available for free download from the ADC (Apple Developer Connection) site in October.

    I'm fairly confident that compilers, in one form or another, will be freely available.

    - Scott

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    Scott Stevenson

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    Scott Stevenson
    Tree House Ideas