Mac OSX stuff

MacPorts

MacPorts gives you a command-line tool “port” that will install countless open source projects on your Mac and keep them up-to-date. Download at macports.org. For a Mac-based developer, it’s incredibly useful to have. Here are some example commands:

sudo port -d selfupdate   # update port system and sync
sudo port upgrade outdated   # upgrade old ports
sudo port livecheck [package] # for bleeding edge
port installed   # show what we have
port variants [package] # what +options can I add?
port show [package]
sudo port uninstall --follow-dependents all # DELETE ALL!!!

I find MacPorts easier to use than the Fink. There’s an interesting alternative called homebrew that uses Ruby and Git.

Useful packages to install:

For development:

ImageMagick
git-core +svn +bash_completion
openssh
subversion +tools
tidy

Media Libs

GraphicsMagick
flac
freeimage
freetype
id3lib
libid3tag
libxml
libmp4v2
libogg
libvorbis
wavpack

sudo port install ffmpeg +lame +libogg +vorbis +faac \
    +faad +xvid +x264 +a52

Other useful apps:

bash-completion
dos2unix
gnupg
htop
ripmime
wget

Network Utils:

mtr
ntop
rdesktop
iftop
autobench
netcat

Fun:

cmatrix
figlet

Shell Tricks

There’s a ton of these at Secrets.

To start the screensaver on the desktop:

$ /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework\
/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/\
ScreenSaverEngine -background &

Enable time machine over samba:

$ defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

To make hidden apps in the doc appear transparent (not reversable, but looks great)

$ defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES $ killall Dock

Allow widgets to be dragged onto the desktop

$ defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES $ killall Dock

iTunes link arrows: use my library instead of linking to itunes store

$ defaults write com.apple.iTunes invertStoreLinks -bool YES

Set expanded save dialogs as default

$ defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool TRUE

Set the default screenshot format as JPEG (instead of the default, PNG):

$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture type -string JPG

Change the location of screenshots to a different folder (the default is the Desktop)

$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop/screenshots

Enable debug mode in Safari

$ defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true

To see what processes are using the disk:

$ sudo fs_usage -f filesys

Snow Leopard, Ruby and MySQL

I was finally able to get the mysql 2.8.1 gem after a snow leopard upgrade. After trying many different builds, 64 vs. 32, etc, I ended up:

removing the existing mysql bundle (usually only needed after upgrading from 10.5)
```
$ sudo rm /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/universal-darwin10.0/mysql.bundle
```
installing 64-bit mysql 5.0/5.1

Go to mysql.com, download “Mac OS X 10.6 (x86_64)” as .dmg package

build the MySQL gem with this command:

$ sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install -V mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

MPlayer/mencoder

Again, macports helps here:

$ sudo port install mplayer-devel +mencoder_extras

To combine a bunch of movies:

$ mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -o “joined.avi” “1.avi” “2.avi”

You have a mac that’s on a remote network, but not publicly accessible. However, a Linux box on that network is.

On your local Mac, you can SSH to the remote box with port forwarding. In this example 192.168.1.10 is the Mac on the remote network, while host.box.com is the remote gateway (for example, a linux host):

$ ssh -L 1202:192.168.1.10:5900 user@host.box.com

This will open an ssh session, and the correct VNC ports are opened on your local machine. On your local Mac, use Command-K to connect to server. Enter this as the address:

vnc://localhost:1202

Identify system CPU

$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string