Fink is a distribution of ported Unix software for MacOSX and Darwin. Using a combination of a custom build engine and Debian’s dpkg package manager and related tools, Fink can either build packages from source on your Mac, or download binary packages from the distribution site. Fink 0.3.0 was released this Saturday, and the process of updating the binary packages was finished today. Visit the Fink download area for the whole range of upgrade and fresh install options. Visit the package database for a list of available packages (400 packages up to now have been ported over).
FINK 0.3.0 Offers 400 Unix Ports to MacOSX/Darwin
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
is located here : http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/ ans is based on the FreeBSD ports system.
Gnu-Darwin can be purshased on CD from Prime Time Freeware : http://www.ptf.com/ptf/tdc/
From their FAQ:
Q: How is Fink different from the BSD port mechanism (this includes OpenPackages and GNU-Darwin)?
A: Some main advantages:
* It’s written in Perl, not make/shell. Thus it doesn’t rely on special features only found in BSD make. There is no need to flag packages that need GNU make to build.
* dpkg provides sophisticated management for binary packages – smooth updating, special handling for configuration files, virtual packages and other advanced dependencies.
firstly welcome back Eugenia. i hope the wedding went well (url to photos ?)
So is this like running Posix apps and ported *nix apps under BeOS ?
cheers
peter
These are unix applications, ported to MacOSX and Darwin.
You see, while a posix or a Unix app may recompile easily to most unices, it may require a bit more effort to other unices (or posix compliant OSes) because of a number of reasons: different versions of libs the OS uses, path problems etc
So, MacOSX/Darwin is a modified BSD. Therefore, some small porting effort should take place to some of the apps to meet the requirements of OSX. And this is what these people do.
The wedding went perfectly fine, thanks.
http://www.eugenia.co.uk/wedding.jpg“>Picture
I’ve been using the Fink for a few months, and I like it. One thing that’s nice is that it maintains itself as a separate directory tree unde /sw, so you
can (pretty much) add and delete packages at will without worrying about hosing the rest of your setup.