Slashdot Mirror
Freshmeat Launches Mac OS X Section
Liedra writes "After announcing Mac OS X software surreptitiously within its main section for the past several months, freshmeat has now launched a section totally devoted to the platform. Read the article by scoop and visit the section directly." Since I switched my primary laptop to OS X, I'm glad to see scoop do this. (Note, Freshmeat & Slashdot are both owned by OSDN.)
One of the things that's kept the Mac software distribution under the radar of most sites like FreshMeat is the fact that for quite some time they've had VersionTracker doing quite well at it. VersionTracker's just starting to get into the PC aspect of things, and remains highly Mac-centric even though PalmOS software is supported as well. VersionTracker may be a pay service, but I discovered a very nice set of features is available with the "Pro" subscription for $50 a year. Not only do you get the daily list of new software updates, but a nifty little application to run on your machine that acts as a new app ticker. Quite nice. But the really nice part is the fact that for your $50, you get 10 licenses and are able to use the Pro software on both PC and Mac platforms.
Maybe someone ought to look into getting a *nix section started with VersionTracker?
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
You mean like this?
Yeah... it's called GNUstep. NeXT and Sun created the OpenStep specification a few years ago (before NeXT became Apple, and Sun decided Java as the future). The core (libFoundation) is currently about 99% done (with an occasional bug fix). The gui portion (libAppKit) is about 80% done.
Or, perhaps someone ought to start a project similar to WINE, but for the Cocoa API?
I really don't know why, but GNUStep doesn't seem to be very popular. GNUStep is an implementation of the OpenStep specification and they even track changes from Apple! It's what you are looking for - with a little effort, applications can be made to compile under both GNUStep and Cocoa (completely legal too, since OpenStep is open(duh)). Foundation seems to be pretty much complete and AppKit lacks just a few Apple-specific things like Drawers and Sheets (which will be added at some point in the future).
Really, GNUStep needs a little more exposure - I switched to a Mac, but I still think GNUStep is great and could be something better than GNOME/KDE.
-- The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
Freshmeat lists projects which run on Unix and also happen to run on Windows... but they won't allow Windows applications, even those that are free software. Maybe nowadays you could sneak some in by compiling them against winelib and calling it a Unix port (as happened for PuTTY).
Indeed, the site doesn't even allow a link to download the Windows version or to give more information about a Windows port. In the release information the field for entering a zipfile URL says 'It is not intended for any Win32 version of the software'. Yet there is a separate field for a Mac OS X package. One platform is encouraged, another is explicitly forbidden. I don't pretend to understand why.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Actually, according to the owners of the UNIX name, OS X is a UNIX. It is not "*nix" or "unix-like." OS X is UNIX. Period. I don't recall the link at the moment, but your point has been proven false repeatedly. Search for the link if you like.
Since OS X is a UNIX, it should be included as a category on Freshmeat. I'm glad it finally is.
t'nera semordnilap
Sorry man, you are actually wrong again =) The kernel of Mac OS X is something called Darwin, which is heavily based on *BSD, and specifically is highly inspired by FreeBSD. It is 100% UNIX. Not like Windows+cywin, since the kernel of OS X is actually a 100% fully blown UNIX. People are running it on x86 hardware too!
You also say that "the GUI isn't UNIX." Well, I challenge you to tell me of a GUI that *is* UNIX. UNIX and windowing systems have nothing to do with each other. You need to have a better understanding of the issues before you blast Freshmeat for this.
Freshmeat's policy of UNIX-like operating systems holds perfectly true here. OS X is as much a UNIX as Linux, FreeBSD, AIX, Solaris, or OpenBSD.
And, you can't interpret "UNIX-like" loosely enough to call Windows + Cygwin UNIX. I don't even want to have to argue that =)