Josh wrote: > In a nutshell, it is similar to running a limited OS inside my OS, > except all Fink does is essentially run Linux ready programs on my > Mac. I just wasn't sure what changes Fink would make on my OSX, and how > that would affect the other programs I use. Downloading the packages > though, does Fink automatically download all available packages, or can > I pick and choose the ones I want?
Fink is not really a 'limited' OS. It's a set of tools that keeps track of packages, what files were installed by each package (so removing a package will be clean and not leave stuff behind) and finally what packages are needed by other packages (dependencies). It's also explicitly set to put (almost) everything into /sw so that it doesn't affect other parts of your system. When you install Fink from the installer .dmg, it includes _information_ on all the available packages, but doesn't download or install any of them (except for about 10 required ones). Everything else is downloaded and installed only when you ask for it. > Regarding the necessity for Fink when running Valknut, I'm new to this, > but the general process would look something like: Open Valknut, Valknut > gathers required resources from Fink (which is done in the background), > Valknut opens and I can operate it like a normal program. To quit, I can > just go to Valknut -> Quit, or the squiggly key + Q. I call it pretzel-q :) It's technically Command-q. Anyway, the sequence you describe is not correct at all. If you go the Fink route to install any package it knows about, you only use Fink to install it, never to run it. So since you want valknut, the basic sequence would be this: user: installs Fink from the Installer .dmg user: Types 'fink install valknut-aqua' in Terminal.app (or select it with Fink Commander and select Install) Fink: downloads valknut source code, as well as the source code for the various other programs Valknut needs for running. Fink knows what the dependencies are, so it does them automatically. Fink: compiles and installs the dependencies and them compiles and installs Valknut. In this case, the program has a clickable icon in /Applications/Fink/Valknut.app. Fink terminates, closes and is done until needed to install or remove another package. user: double-clicks the .app icon to run Valknut. closes it with pretzel-q when done. At no point during this last step was Fink actually being used. > Would I be wrong in saying that, each different variant of the Linux OS > requires a different compile of Valknut (or any program)? If there was > an installer for Linux like Windows' *.exe or *.dmg for Mac (I don't > know if there is or not), it wouldn't work cross-Linux, because each OS > would run and "arrange" Valknut their own way? That is why programs come > with just the source and the .tar.gz and you have to compile it every time? Definitely between win/linux/mac because the compiled binaries are totally different. Not so much because files are put in different locations (which is also true, especially in Linux distributions), but because the systems don't talk the same languages at all. > In the future, is it likely to have precompiled binaries of Valknut for > Intel Macs (haha, yes I just bought my Mac less than two months ago, so > yes I do have an Intel based Mac)? Not until I get an Intel mac or have a good long time to set up my current PPC computer to compile for intel/universal. However, if I get good feedback on the Intel builds, then Fink can be set up to have precompiled builds of Valknut (which will still need Fink to be installed, but take seconds to install as opposed to minutes to build). Hanspeter ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Fink-beginners mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-beginners
