[cmeisenzahl]

How much trouble will I have grabbing the source for GNU UNIX apps and trying to build them on my G4 iBook w/ GCC? Will they work with no problems? Require some tweaking? Any tips?

Thanks guys,

Chris

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by cmeisenzahl:
How much trouble will I have grabbing the source for GNU UNIX apps and trying to build them on my G4 iBook w/ GCC? Will they work with no problems? Require some tweaking? Any tips?

My one tip would be to grab the developer ("XCode") tools from Apple's website, but it sounds like you may have already done that. Once gcc/g++, make, and all that stuff is installed, compiling GNU applications is really a cinch.

If you've ever used package management systems like ports on BSD, portage on Gentoo, or apt on Debian, then fink might interest you. It'll download tarballs, satisfy dependencies, compile, configure, and install thousands of *nix apps.

Throw another post up here if you've got more questions...

[cmeisenzahl]

Much appreciated, thanks!

[larkost]

There is also a good chance you will need the X11 package installed as well. There is a good chance that you already have the install (/Applications/Installers) but you can always pick it up from Apple if not.

[travism]

Have you looked into Fink or Darwin Ports? I use the GNU coreutils (things like cp, mv, tar, and so on) instead of the BSD counterparts...

[Turnpike]

Originally posted by travism:
I use the GNU coreutils (things like cp, mv, tar, and so on) instead of the BSD counterparts...

Why? Just curious... I've used both, but only lightly... rarely anything more complicated than a 20-line shell script. What's the difference?

[Gavin]

What's the status on tar, cp, mv, etc., having support for mac issues like the resource fork?

[Mithras]

Originally posted by Gavin:
What's the status on tar, cp, mv, etc., having support for mac issues like the resource fork?

mv works fine (unless across volumes) but tar & cp don't notice resource
There are several options, though:
* Apple supplies utilities (ditto, CpMac that are resource-fork friendly)
* other software that has been patched to handle resource forks (e.g. RSyncX, unison)
* Easiest option: you can acccess resource forks simply by appending /rsrc to a filename.

Example:
1. Drag a link to your desktop to create a .webloc file.
2. In the terminal,
mv "original name.webloc" "newfile.webloc"
open "newfile.webloc"
and that works fine.

3. Now try cp:
cp newfile.webloc copy.webloc
open copy.webloc
and that crashes the Finder (!)

4. Now bring across the resource fork:
cp newfile.webloc/rsrc copy.webloc/rsrc
open copy.webloc
and it works.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by Mithras:
Example:
1. Drag a link to your desktop to create a .webloc file.
2. In the terminal,
mv "original name.webloc" "newfile.webloc"
open "newfile.webloc"
and that works fine.

3. Now try cp:
cp newfile.webloc copy.webloc
open copy.webloc
and that crashes the Finder (!)

4. Now bring across the resource fork:
cp newfile.webloc/rsrc copy.webloc/rsrc
open copy.webloc
and it works.

That's too cool, man. It's only 9 am but I feel like today was worth it just for that tidbit.

[travism]

Originally posted by Turnpike:
Why? Just curious... I've used both, but only lightly... rarely anything more complicated than a 20-line shell script. What's the difference?

The command syntax and switches of the commands is very different in some cases. I have three-four years invested in using the GNU commands that it's difficult to use the BSD commands. (If I need to copy/move/rename/remove files I use the Terminal and not Finder/GUI.)

What is this "resource fork" and why would it make a big difference in terminal commands?

[Detrius]

Originally posted by travism:
What is this "resource fork" and why would it make a big difference in terminal commands?

The resource fork is the way the Mac did things a long time ago. Unfortunately, it's still relevant for some things. The new Mac way is bundles, like the .app bundles. The old Mac way was with a data fork and a resource fork. The actual machine code of a program went in the data fork, while all of the windows, icons, sounds, etc... went into the resource fork. Terminal commands ignore the existence of the resource fork. As such, cp can butcher some files. If you are copying stuff you are worried about, use ditto --rsrc. Check the man page on ditto for more info.