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analogika · Feb 21, 2007, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by Guntis

Why should you edit hidden files?

This is a good, and as yet, unanswered, question.

cybergoober · Feb 21, 2007, 08:55 AM

Looking at his post history, it seems he was trying to get MySQL running and screwed up his PATH, requiring him to edit hidden files. If he was having a lot of trouble with it he would have been doing a lot of editing of these hidden files.

That's my take anyway.

Tins · Feb 21, 2007, 11:18 AM

Switch to Windows XP. It'll let you do anything you want. Then you'll come crawling back to Tiger begging to be asked for a password.

leperkuhn · Feb 21, 2007, 06:57 PM

I edit hidden files all the time. If you're a web developer, you're constantly adding virtual hosts and tweaking other settings. my.cnf for mysql, php.ini, /etc/httpd.conf, and /etc/hosts. I finally set up an include for httpd.conf that just points to a file in my home directory.

Thinine · Feb 21, 2007, 08:52 PM

All of which you should have to authenticate for. Besides, it's easy enough to setup a shell that doesn't need to authenticate to edit those files.

cgc · Feb 21, 2007, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

If you are an administrator (which you must be when you are the only user) then you are rarely asked to authenticate.

You can create another account and NOT be administrator (which is recommended).

Swift · Feb 22, 2007, 02:33 PM

There's a description in ZDNet today (Feb 22, here), about the lethal combination of Vista and IE7. The examples are many. Say you want to watch movies from iFilm, etc. Flash is needed. Just getting the darn thing to install correctly, or even worse, to allow ActiveX controls to work on ONE TRUSTED SITE, is a huge pain, taking several tries at it until it actually works. There isn't one dialogue, but about 10. "Do you really want to do that?" "Are you sure?" "Whoa, this is risky." And then it doesn't work until you visit Flash's Help site and change not one, but TWO settings in the Internet Options dialogue which are both in a long list of incomprehensible options, and then get rewarned and recautioned again.

I went through this, and can vouch for it. It's a nightmare.

On the other hand, since the dialogs only really occur as a weekly renewal, or when you're installing new software or altering a basic setting like Startup Drive, I find the occasional password kind of reassuring.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 22, 2007, 04:34 PM

I believe the terminal will remember your authentication for a set time period. This allows you to run several commands while only entering your password once. Certainly works that way if you use the sudo command.

MacPC · 09:26 AM

If any of you know how to turn a Mac into a full bloom Apache server, php and SQL server, a a SSH server, a sFTP server a FTP server... without needed to edit the hidden files. Plzzzz... all you "geniuses" let me know.

Under the pretty face of the Mac OSX is a real hidden tiger-- is a powerful Unix OS, I intend to unleash every potential of it to show what Mac can do that Windows can't. Sure, on the path I make mistakes but I learn alot. I dare to try when most people won't, and for those who won't try, you are missing out lot of fun.

MacPC.

Proud to have a multipurpose Mac min server sitting on the desk.
Loving the Mac and hate the Windows.

besson3c · Feb 28, 2007, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by MacPC

If any of you know how to turn a Mac into a full bloom Apache server, php and SQL server, a a SSH server, a sFTP server a FTP server... without needed to edit the hidden files. Plzzzz... all you "geniuses" let me know.

Under the pretty face of the Mac OSX is a real hidden tiger-- is a powerful Unix OS, I intend to unleash every potential of it to show what Mac can do that Windows can't. Sure, on the path I make mistakes but I learn alot. I dare to try when most people won't, and for those who won't try, you are missing out lot of fun.

MacPC.

Proud to have a multipurpose Mac min server sitting on the desk.
Loving the Mac and hate the Windows.

I haven't read this entire thread, so I'm not sure what you mean by "hidden" files. I'm assuming you mean files that start with a dot.

There are many ways to get MySQL/PHP/Apache going. You can build them using Macports, or download the binary disk image of MAMP and install them that way.

In OS X Client, Apple ships on older version of PHP and an older version of Apache you can use (rather than replacing them). You can add MySQL to the mix simply by installing the disk image available on their site.

Personally, I like to roll my own with the options I want, and test the latest versions, so I've used Macports.

SSH and sFTP are provided by the same daemon which you can start in System Preferences. You can enable FTP in System Preferences too, but I'm on a crusade to put an end to FTP and sending your password in the clear. This is just dumb, and if you enable the version of FTP included in OS X, it uses PAM to authenticate to your local password, all the more reason to NOT USE IT!

If you want to really delve into OS X, learn Unix. You'll probably have the easiest time using Linux to do this, as most of the info online assumes you are running Linux, it is much easier to install software in Linux (esp. where Macports and Fink ports are missing or broken), and all of the fun stuff like MythTV and Wine will work under Linux much better.

MacPC · Feb 28, 2007, 12:58 PM

Thanks besson3c.

I play with Linux too but I still like the Mac better. Most of the things I am doing is not for any perticular reason but just because it's there and I can do it. It's mostly for my own erudiction. The more I dig into it the more I want to know.

This thread started out as a light-hearted question but turn into a forum of is own.

Funny.

MacPC.

himself · Mar 1, 2007, 02:36 AM

Originally Posted by MacPC

If any of you know how to turn a Mac into a full bloom Apache server, php and SQL server, a a SSH server, a sFTP server a FTP server... without needed to edit the hidden files. Plzzzz... all you "geniuses" let me know.

Under the pretty face of the Mac OSX is a real hidden tiger-- is a powerful Unix OS, I intend to unleash every potential of it to show what Mac can do that Windows can't. Sure, on the path I make mistakes but I learn alot. I dare to try when most people won't, and for those who won't try, you are missing out lot of fun.

MacPC.

Proud to have a multipurpose Mac min server sitting on the desk.
Loving the Mac and hate the Windows.

I installed Webmin on my Mac, and it lets me tweak and fiddle with Apache, PHP, MySQL, and SSH settings (among many others) without digging for a single hidden file.

Cadaver · Mar 1, 2007, 10:42 PM

Just to play devil's advocate, Windows Vista really isn't any worse than using MacOS X as a standard (non-admin) user with the "require admin password for secure preferences" turned on.

Do this in MacOS X, and you'll be asked for authorization quite frequently. Not necessarily for drag & drop apps like Firefox, but OS X asks for authorization for any app that installs anything outside of the Applications folder (Parallels for example, system updates and any software that uses a Preference Pane).

In Vista, instead of an admin password box, you're presented with a Cancel/Continue box if you're an admin user, and an admin password box (just like OS X) if you're a standard user. Microsoft did go a bit overboard in terms of what standard users need authorization for (like renaming desktop icons that you yourself didn't place there), but for the most part its exactly what OS X does to a standard user. I believe most MacOS X users tend to run their primary account as an administrator though, so Vista seems more intrusive than what they're used to.