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Apple's Unix Porting Guide
hysterion writes "Just came across the nice Unix Porting Guide (pdf) posted by Apple earlier this month. Topics include NetInfo, using Project Builder with gnumake, autoconf, XFree86, Tcl/Tk, Qt ... it is a bit short on scripting languages, and they speak as if KDE were already ported, but other than that I found it an informative read." They also didn't mention fink, and they put "Unix" in all caps. However, they were honest about the shell scripting limitations of AppleScript, although they didn't mention that AppleScript -- especially via osascript -- is pretty buggy in Mac OS X right now (this is my annoyance of the week, so allow me to indulge myself).
It is...
The operating system is UNIX, not Unix, though admittedly at this point it's more of a paradigm than an OS.
Is your browser retarded?
The project has faced numerous setbacks in recent years, leading to waning developer interest and participation, a user-base migrating to Linux, Windows XP and Mac OS X, and no financial support whatsoever.
How did it happen? Well, these were the main events. First, *BSD split into 3 incompatible projects - FreeBSD, which focused on 386 and 486 machines; NetBSD, which focused on little-used architectures like Sparc and PPC; and OpenBSD, which focused on minimal functionality and poor performance. This split divided the already-small community and served to set up bitter rivalries. Then, Linux came along and stole all of *BSD's press, funding, and much of it's thunder with its better performance, functionality and ease-of-use. As if that weren't enough, OS X later took nearly all of the desktop *BSD users. And finally, in what has all but spelled out the demise of *BSD, two core developers have quit the project. First, Jordan Hubbard quit *BSD to get an actual paying job at Apple. He made this move citing OS X's superiority, *BSD's imminent demise, and his inability to feed his family with the broken promises of an SMP-enabled kernel. Shortly after that, Michael Smith left, saying simply, "It's true, *BSD is dying."
Where does all this leave the IT industry at large? Fortunately, the IT world is now healthier than ever. The death of *BSD is simply natural selection at work, as companies leave the shoddily written *BSD behind and move ahead with Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.
RIP *BSD.
Visit the new Troll site!
I'm not a developer, but this appears to have answered a great many questions for those developers teetering on the edge of Mac OS X development. My primary questions were answered pretty well from this document.
The nice thing about this document is how it tacitly implies that writing an OS X app can be done in such a way that it can be deployed just about anywhere with practically any imaging model and with many new or common IDEs. OS X, from a programmer's perspective, must seem extremely flexible.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
Here's a link on porting Java apps to Mac OS X, eg, menu bar issues, tweaks that don't break cross-platform compatibility but help the Mac experience. Pretty good.
I've heard many good things about the McIntosh recently, and my family and I decided we needed to buy a new computer to replace our old Windows machine. Having heard of its ease of use, we decided to go the McIntosh route. We recently purchased an 800 mHz G4, with OSX. We thought we were getting a good deal. But unfortunately things turned out quite different.
t ical/q321232/default.asp), I was stunned to see this patch only applies to Windows machines! Given the tiny user base of McIntosh, apparently software patches aren't made frequently - if at all - for McIntosh. I refuse to use an OS that is as ridden with holes as swiss cheese. Thus I'm going to be returning my McIntosh and purchasing a Windows XP box.
Upon putting together my McIntosh system we discovered that our mouse appeared the be broken. Although it wasn't cracked or shattered, it only had one button. When I spoke with our McIntosh dealer, we were told that the upgrade to a real two-button mouse would require more money. Apparently the mice with one button were only a "trial version" of the hardware. I feel that this is a very deceptive practice on Apple's part, and have written a letter to the Better Business Bureau to protest this. I felt as though I'd bought a car but to make it go past 35mph we'd have to pay more money!
Rather than pay the exhorbitant sum of money for a real mouse, I went to CompUSA and bought one out of my own pocket.
Strike one for McIntosh!
Secondly, one of the reasons that we went with McIntosh is because its new OS was based on the Linux kernel. Since my company uses Linux heavily (and its an OS I'm highly familiar with) I thought it would be nice to be able to run my work applications at home. Imagine my shock
upon hearing that McIntosh was actually based on an incompatible fork of Linux - a fork known as BSD. Since our computers at work ran Linux - and not BSD - it was clear that I'd be unable to compile them on my Apple! Strike two for McIntosh.
The final straw came last night. I received an email from a friend alerting me to numerous holes in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. When I went to MS' home page to download a patch http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/cri
I hope this message reaches someone at McIntosh headquarters. Maybe their CEO, Steve Ballmer, will get this and fix their business practices. Until such changes are made, however, I fear that McIntosh will continue to be a bit player in the computer world.
Thank you for your time,
Egg Troll
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
This is from Fink's FAQ:
Q2.3: What is your relation with Apple?
A: Apple is aware of Fink and has given us some support as part of their Open Source relations efforts. In the summer and fall of 2001, they provided us with pre-release seeds of new Mac OS X versions in the hope that Fink packages can be adapted in time for the release. Quote: "Hopefully it underscores the commitment that many suspect we're not willing to provide. We'll get better at the open source game over time." Thanks Apple!
I had no idea that this had occured. It's exciting!
I'm given to wonder, however, why someone with a full OS X installation would wish to use KDE. Perhaps there are a dozen reasons I can't think off off-hand, but the real prize would be to run KDE on top of Darwin! Is this possible yet?
Darwin core + good GUI = another no-cost operating system on the loose. It would no doubt have far lower system requirements than OS X, too. The idea has me drooling already.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
is what they need. If you run a task that takes ~5-10 minutes to complete (update prebindings) your applescript will stall for that long of time. Trying to "backround" it by putting a & at the end doesnt help ether, still waits for the prossess to finnish. I'd be really nice if i could have a little applescript studio application work interactvly with huge perl programs i've already written.
:) bfc@mac.com
BTW: if anyone knows how to do this feel free to tell me
Here in Kansas City it's not so tough being a Mac user-- there are plenty of major chains that sell Macs or peripherals for them (Microcenter and until recently, Circuit City), a large, healthy MUG (featured on Apple's site, no less) and many third-party suppliers and repair facilities (dumpster-diving has been fun since I moved out here). There's only one real drawback of living in Kansas City and being a Mac user: the rampant art faggotry, pseudo-creativity, and nerdario emo fags associated with Macintosh computing!
Yes, sadly, Kansas City is a hotbed for the so-called "art" and "emo" communities. You know the kind. Thick, silly glasses, mussed, tussled hair, ill-fitting cardigans, sweaters, dirty jeans and corduroys, and faded T-shirts purposefully purchased for the obscure entity it advertises on it. They're everywhere, these emo idiots, and they've infiltrated the Macintosh community through their affiliation with art.
Talking to one of these jerks is as exciting as digging up your dead grandmother and trying to get her to converse with you (though as hard as it would be staring at the fetid, rotting corpse of a loved one, I'd probably rather do that than spend any time with one of these whining, pierced, star-tattooed morons). They are usually brain-dead to begin with and share a common brain with each other. If art and emo fags sharing a brain is anything like allowing multiple log-ins on a Linux server, you know the drag-and-lag I'm talking about: roughly as fast as a 4-way amputee quadriplegic fat man in a marathon, and about as sharp as a beach ball.
As easy as the Mac is to use, hardware- and software-wise, these people make it look like Apple has asked them to interface with the thing using assembler. With their eyes shut and using only their tongues to type on the keyboard. Inquiring as to what version of Mac OS they're running usually results in only being able to tell if it's either Mac OS X or not: "the old one," or "the new one," is about all you'll get. Hoping one of these sub-human poseurs knows anything about their Macs is hoping for too much. I swear to God these people bought their Macs to be different and not because they actually needed a computer that worked right.
Yeah, maybe Macs are computers for people who don't use computers. But dammit, man, if you're going to own a tool, be able to use it and maintain it. I've seen some of these idiots on high-speed connections that are 4 or 5 OS updates behind. My favorite are the clueless slags who run 9.0 on their Mac and refuse to upgrade to X for whatever reason and haven't even touched 9.1 or 9.2. I mean, if you refuse to move up to X, at least be running the latest Mac OS 9 update that you can.
Kansas City's a great place, don't get me wrong. But the "art" community here, as well as the emo scene, make being a Mac user a little embarrassing. Maybe it's just me, since I moved from an area that wasn't so saturated with subculture shittiness and gayness, but I am having a harder and harder time being the proud underdog Mac user with these vegan indy-rock retards standing in my corner.
Will I abandon the Mac because of them? No. The Mac experience is finally growing my leaps and bounds again after half a decade of holding pattern. But I will start kicking ass and taking names the next time I see some slobbering, giggling emo retardo talking about his new iBook or Power Mac G4 louder than necessary, letting people know how "different" he is.
And that's a promise.
I am a homosexual. I bought an Apple computer because of its well earned reputation for being "the" gay computer. Since I have become an Apple owner, I have been exposed to a whole new world of gay friends. It is really a pleasure to meet and compute with other homos such as myself. I plan on using my new Apple computer as a way to entice and recruit young schoolboys into the homosexual lifestyle; it would be so helpful if you could produce more software which would appeal to young boys. Thanks in advance.
with much gayness,
Father Randy O'Day, S.J.
OSAscript is pretty darned cool, but it's been my annoyance of the week as well. Been playing with it the past couple of days to write a nice-looking iTunes remote for our office jukebox -- controlled via a browser, not the shell (doing it from the shell is cake, even on remote machines.)
As Pudge mentioned, it's VERY buggy though. A few things I've noticed: