Tutorials 

Safe and Happy UNIX Hacking with Mac OS X

By Andrei Verovski, Contributing Editor

Preface

MacOS X version 10.1 lacks package management system similar to RPM or Debian APT which tracks system components in central search-able database (may be Apple will fix this in one of the next versions). This makes quite difficult maintaining UNIX inherited software, which may consist of hundreds and even thousands of files scattered across MacOS X UNIX-specific system directories not even visible in MacOS X Finder. However, thanks to the Open Source community, managing some UNIX software becomes much more easier and what is very important, safer.

Credits

All described here would not possible without great work of talented programmers - Christoph Pfisterer, Max Horn and all others, who developed port of the package management system from Debian/GNU Linux (one of the most powerful and advanced this days) for MacOS X. This port is called Fink.

What is Fink?

Fink is a MacOS X port of package management system APT (Advanced Package Tool), package manager dpkg, and some front-ends for these tools from Debian/GNU Linux. However, this is only a part of Fink does for MacOS X. The greatest feature of Fink is that it creates its own UNIX directory tree (separated from MacOS X) where it keeps all its files.

Fink, as well as all UNIX software properly packaged with Fink (except Darwin/MacOS X version of XFree86 windowing system) do not install anything into MacOS X system directories (including "/usr/local") or alter any MacOS X system file(s). Thus, it is completely safe. If something goes wrong, one can just erase entire Fink directory without damaging MacOS X. However, please take into account that Fink do not tracks MacOS X native components, only software installed with Fink itself !

UNIX Directory Tree

UNIX directory tree is very different from classic MacOS. Here is a short list of directories which purpose is more or less common for all UNIX variants:

Please note that directories listed above are not necessary located in root level (like on Linux). Many of these directories in MacOS X are inside directory called "private" which is hidden by MacOS X Finder. UNIX file and directory names are case sensetive, directory names are separated with slash "/", invisible items started with dot ".", that's why they are often called dot items by UNIX users.

All UNIX related directories and files of MacOS X (hidden when MacOS X is running) are visible and modifiable from classic MacOS resource editor like ResEdit. However, editing MacOS X components from classic MacOS is really bad idea.

Installing Fink

If you have software from OpenOSX.com (Database, Web or GIMP CDs) or MacOSX.Forked.net you should remove them first! Some stuff from above mentioned companies is created with Fink and then repackaged for MacOS X.

Installing Fink is quite simple. Since Fink is a quickly evolving software, and you may use different version from main, installation procedure might be different, too. Fink distribution supplied with excellent manual, so just look into it. For version 0.3, launch Fink installer, wait until it finishes, then create text file named ".cshrc" (beginning with dot ".") containing line "source /sw/bin/init.csh" in your home directory Users -> Your Name (run "echo "source /sw/bin/init.csh" > .cshrc"), and finally run "rehash" in terminal. You will find "/sw" directory in the root level of your startup volume. This is where Fink keeps all its stuff.

Please note that Fink requires Apple Developer Tools and MacOS X SDK (both are parts of MacOS X Developer Tools CD available for free download) to be installed.

Upgrading Fink Core to the Next Release

Run "fink selfupdate" in terminal. This time (version 0.3 release) it is the only right way to upgrade Fink core in auto-pilot mode to the next release. You should not use MacOS X installer program and MacOS X Fink package for upgrade purposes (only for first time installation). To upgrade the rest of Fink installed components run "fink update-all".

Getting Started

This article assumes that you have at least basic knowledge of UNIX and terminal commands. Almost all commands below must be executed in superuser mode.

Please note that you need fast Internet connection to fetch source tarball(s) and Fink packages from the master site. Run "fink list" in order to see list of available Fink packages. To install (or upgrade) already precompiled Fink-enabled packages I may advice to use dselect (console based front-end to the Debian package manager dpkg). It is quite confusing for novices, but very capable and powerful. First of all, run Update command in dselect (or "apt-get update" in terminal) to fetch list of precompiled Debian-style packages which are usually referred as debs (but do not run Access, it may overwrite Fink settings!). Then, in Select section choose (with + key) whatever you what to install. And finally, run Install. The dselect will automatically resolve dependencies, download and install necessary components.

If you find dselect too cumbersome, just run "apt-get install package-name" in terminal (but do not forget to run "apt-get update" first !). If "apt-get install package-name" fails to install known package, it means that selected package is not available yet as precompiled deb from Fink master site, it have to be downloaded as source tarball and compiled locally. In this case you should run "fink install package-name". Please take into account that this process my be very time consuming.

Brief list of some Fink, apt-get and dpkg commands is available below.

What is the difference between "apt-get install package-name" and "dpkg --install package-name" one may ask? "apt-get install ..." will search for the specified package in the known package list and then will download and install it (example - "apt-get install mysql"), while with "dpkg --install ..." it is required to explicitly specify file name and path of the deb package (example - "dpkg --install /Users/Shared/mysql_3.23.43-2_darwin-powerpc.deb"). Both perform checking of package dependencies, but only "apt-get" will automatically fetch and install dependent items. In short, "apt-get" is preferred over "dpkg" whenever possible because it is higher-lever tool.

Another Fink Benefits

Fink may install some very useful Open Source UNIX software which is missing from MacOS X (or is just incomplete) like bzip2 (Burrows-Wheeler block sorting compressor with Huffman coding), wget (http/ftp recursive file retriever), tar (tape archiver which really works), Midnight Commander (very popular among Linux/FreeBSD users console based file manager), MySQL/PostgreSQL (powerful open source SQL database servers), and much much more, all this (except XFree86 installation) without altering MacOS X system directories.

Creating deb Packages for MacOS X/Fink

Full and comprehensive instruction available at Fink Web site, however, it assumes that you are an UNIX programmer. Below you will find some explanation how to quickly build your own deb without digging deep.

In short, you need to place source tarball and package description file into proper directories and run "fink build package-name". The top level build directory is "/sw/finks/dists". It contains 3 subdirectories (let's call them release status trees) - stable (final or stable releases), unstable (beta, testing or experimental releases), and local (releases built locally by administrator). Most likely all your home brewed software will go into local. Each release status tree contains two subdirectories - finkinfo (for package description files and patches) and binary-darwin-powerpc (for compiled deb packages). All source tarballs must be placed into "/sw/src/", or you may specify download URL in the package description file. Writing package description file from scratch may be rather tricky, so it is much easier to modify existing ones. For example, Fink 0.3 have been supplied with MySQL 3.23.42 without InnoDB, but I am needed MySQL 3.23.44 with InnoDB transaction safe table support. I have had to change just few lines in package description file (version #, revision #; and add compilation configuration parameter "--with-innodb").

Q&A

Q. What to do if one want to rebuild an existing Fink package but with different compilation options?
A. Modify existing *.info file (increment revision number) and copy it into local tree, then run "fink build package-name", "dpkg --install package-name".

Q. How to tinker with stuff from the unstable tree (beta, testing, experimental, etc.)?
A. Copy desired package description (*.info) and patch (*.patch) files from unstable tree "/sw/fink/dists/unstable/..." to local one "/sw/fink/dists/local/..." and run "fink build package-name".

Q. The package I am looking for seem to be not available.
A. 1) Look in the unstable tree; 2) create it yourself.

Q. I am running "fink build package-name", but Fink tries to compile and build a lot of dependent packages, it will take hours or even days !!!
A. Fink build tool is not advanced enough yet and it does not check if precompiled dependent packages are available (at least this is true for Fink version 0.3). There are two solutions: 1) install existing package (if it exists, of course), with "apt-get update", "apt-get install package-name", then upgrade to your own version or revision; 2) manually install dependent packages with "apt-get update", "apt-get install dependent-package-name".

Q. The "apt-get install package-name" fails to install known package (error message - package not found). What to do?
A. Please read this article carefully again from the beginning.

Q. How to install XFree86 with Fink?
A. Excellent guide called "Running X11 on Darwin and Mac OS X" written by Christoph Pfisterer is available here.

Q. I have a problem with Fink and could not figure out how to solve it.
A. 1) Study Fink manual, other resources and be creative; 2) subscribe to the Fink mailing lists and ask there for help. However, please be patient and polite, and don't get mad if you won't get desired answer. Nobody is obliged to help you unless you paid for support contract. After all, you got Fink software for free.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, feel free to e-mail me: andrei_verovski@osxfaq.com