Mac OS X For Unix Geeks: Demistifying the Geekier Side of Mac OS X - Softcover

Rothman, Ernest; Jepson, Brian; Rosen, Rich

Softcover

ISBN 10: 059652062X ISBN 13: 9780596520625

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 2008

Synopsis

If you're a developer or system administrator lured to Mac OS X because of its Unix roots, you'll quickly discover that performing Unix tasks on a Mac is different than what you're accustomed to. Mac OS X for Unix Geeks serves as a bridge between Apple's Darwin OS and the more traditional Unix systems. This clear, concise guide gives you a tour of Mac OS X's Unix shell in both Leopard and Tiger, and helps you find the facilities that replace or correspond to standard Unix utilities.

You'll learn how to perform common Unix tasks in Mac OS X, such as using Directory Services instead of the standard Unix /etc/passwd and /etc/group, and you'll be able to compile code, link to libraries, and port Unix software using either Leopard and Tiger. This book teaches you to:

• Navigate the Terminal and understand how it differs from an xterm
• Use Open Directory (LDAP) and NetInfo as well as Directory Services
• Compile your code with GCC 4
• Port Unix programs to Mac OS X with Fink
• Use MacPorts to install free/open source software
• Search through metadata with Spotlight's command-line utilities
• Build the Darwin kernel

And there's much more. Mac OS X for Unix Geeks is the ideal survival guide to tame the Unix side of Leopard and Tiger. If you're a Unix geek with an interest in Mac OS X, you'll soon find that this book is invaluable.

About this title

Review

It's about time: Mac OS X for Unix Geeks arrives on the scene none too soon for UNIX aficionados who, having heard that the latest editions of Mac OS are based on a UNIX variant, want to see how the platform compares to more venerable versions of the eminently configurable operating system. This book highlights some key differences between the Darwin environment and more conventional UNIXs, enabling people with UNIX experience to take advantage of it as they learn the Mac OS X way of doing things at the command line.

This skinny volume neither aims to teach its readers UNIX nor introduce them to the Mac, but rather to show how Apple has implemented UNIX. It's a fast read that assumes--as the title implies--rather a lot of UNIX knowledge. With that requirement satisfied and this book in hand, you're likely to discover aspects of Aqua more quickly than you otherwise would have.

The authors spend lots of time explaining how administrative tasks--such as managing groups, users, and passwords--are handled in the Mac OS environment. They document netinfo fully, and call attention to its limitations (like its inability to create home directories for users) by explaining how to do the job on the command line. They also cover C programming in the Darwin universe at greater length than any other book does, providing explicit instructions for such important tasks as creating header files and linking static libraries. A guide to the command line (they call the reference section--groan--"The Missing Manpages") provides good value at this book's conclusion. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to get around in Darwin, the UNIX implementation built into Mac OS X. Sections deal with basic maneuvering at the command line, LDAP services, C programming, and graphical user interfaces under Aqua. There's a short section on building the kernel itself, but it's limited in scope.

Book Description

Demistifying the Geekier Side of Mac OS X

Edition details

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 059652062X
• ISBN 13: 9780596520625
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 426