Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks (Paperback)

by Brian Jepson (Author), Ernest Rothman (Author)
Key Phrases: base station, virtual screens, printer sharing, System Preferences, Directory Services, Disk Utility (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
If you're one of the many Unix developers drawn to Mac OS X for its Unix core, you'll find yourself in surprisingly unfamiliar territory. Unix and Mac OS X are kissing cousins, but there are enough pitfalls and minefields in going from one to another that even a Unix guru can stumble, and most guides to Mac OS X are written for Mac aficionados. For a Unix developer, approaching Tiger from the Mac side is a bit like learning Russian by reading the Russian side of a Russian-English dictionary. Fortunately, O'Reilly has been the Unix authority for over 25 years, and in "Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks," that depth of understanding shows.

This is the book for Mac command-line fans. Completely revised and updated to cover Mac OS X Tiger, this new edition helps you quickly and painlessly get acclimated with Tiger's familiar-yet foreign-Unix environment. Topics include:

Using the Terminal and understanding how it differs from an xterm

Using Directory Services, Open Directory (LDAP), and NetInfo

Compiling code with GCC 3

Library linking and porting Unix software

Creating and installing packages with Fink

Using DarwinPorts

Search through metadata with Spotlight's command-line utilities

Building the Darwin kernel

Running X Windows on top of Mac OS X, or better yet, run Mac OS X on a Windows machine with PearPC!

"Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks" is the ideal survival guide for taming the Unix side of Tiger. If you're a Unix geek with an interest in Mac OS X, you'll find this clear, concise book invaluable.

About the Author
Brian Jepson is an O'Reilly editor, programmer, co-author of all editions of Mac OS X for Unix Geeks, and co-author with Dave Taylor on the Jaguar and Panther editions of Learning Unix for Mac OS X. He's also a volunteer system administrator and all-around geek for AS220, a non-profit arts center in Providence, Rhode Island. AS220 gives Rhode Island artists uncensored and unjuried forums for their work. These forums include galleries, performance space, and publications. Brian sees to it that technology, especially free software, supports that mission.Ernest E. Rothman is a Professor of Mathematics at Salve Regina University (SRU) in Newport, Rhode Island, where he is also Chair of the Mathematical Sciences Department. Ernie holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Brown University and held positions at the Cornell Theory Center in Ithaca, New York, before coming to SRU. His interests are in scientific computing, applied mathematics and computational science education, and the Unix underpinnings of Mac OS X. Ernie lives in South Kingston, Rhode Island with his wife Kim and two Newfoundland dogs Max and Joe. You can keep abreast of his latest activities at http://homepage.mac.com/samchops.

Ernest Rothman is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Mathematical Sciences Department at Salve Regina University (SRU). Like Brian, Ernie has co-authored every edition of Mac OS X for Unix Geeks. Ernie holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Brown University and held positions at the Cornell Theory Center in Ithaca, New York, before coming to SRU. His academic interests are in scientific computing, computational science, and applied mathematics education. As a long-time Unix aficionado, Ernie has enjoyed tinkering with Mac OS X since the day it was first released. You can keep abreast of his latest activities at http://homepage.mac.com/samchops.

Product Details

• Paperback: 415 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 3 edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596009127
• ISBN-13: 978-0596009120
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #364,587 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Little Heady, But Not Unbearably So..., August 21, 2005

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This isn't a book for beginners, but depending on what you are looking for it isn't totally advanced reading. Part I (Getting Around) is an assortment of 10 chapters - Inside the Terminal, Searching and Metadata, Startup, etc. - that are really just deeper dives. Once you have gotten past the "where's the terminal?" stage they provide good, useful information for any user who expects to spend time on the command line. Or who simply wants to know how things work.

But with Part II (Building Applications) the dive becomes much deeper, focusing on compiler requirements, libraries, frameworks, dynamic linking, and all the other minutia that a serious developer needs, especially one making the transition from the Unix world. If you are completely Mac based and are happy with Xcode you may find this is overkill. Later sections deal with Working with Packages, Serving and System Management, and some miscellaneous points.

Rothman and Jepson's writing style is a bit dry, and in the deeper sections they will often make assumptions about how well versed you are in Unix. Even in the Unix world there aren't a lot of people who are linking and loading experts and a little more effort at explaining the terms would have been appreciated. Come to think of it that's a standards fault anywhere in the Unix world - people keep assuming that the reason you are reading a book is that you already know what's in it - so I shouldn't complain.

Still, this is a good reference book. If I ever do want to create packages from the command line this will be my first stop. It belongs on the shelves of all Mac professionals, geeks or not.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to "Unix" on your Mac..., June 19, 2005

By	E. Wuehler (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are comfortable with Unix, this book will get you up to speed with Unix on the Mac. You should at least know what things like 'grep', 'sed', 'awk' mean - if not, try the "Learning Unix for Mac OS X" book first.

Like every other flavor of *nix, the Mac has it's own take on Unix services you may be familiar with. If you open up the Terminal app, you can find most everything you would expect in the directory structure. However, things don't always work as anticipated - which is where this book is really useful. For example, one of the things that confused me when going from Unix (I used FreeBSD and Linux prior to Mac OS X) was how users and groups were used.

There are enough differences between OS X and other flavors of *nix that this book is easily worth the cost. From how to add startup items, to enabling existing Unix services, to dual-booting, to building packages, etc etc etc. I'm sure some people will find things "missing" or not explained with enough detail, but I think it's covers just about everything most "Unix Geeks" will be interested in to familiarize themselves with the Mac's take on Unix.

If you're looking for something specific (for example, VNC on Mac OS X), check out the index online from O'Reilly's web site and make sure it covers the topic you're interested in.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book to buy if you come from UNIX, June 14, 2005

By	T. Joseph Carter "knghtbrd" (Eugene, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews

Someone told me once that coming from UNIX is like coming from Mars. He was a Windows user, so you'll have to decide for yourself whether to forgive him or not. ;)

But he did have a point. We do things differently in the UNIX world, and we're used to understanding how our operating systems work down at the nuts and bolts level. We get really frustrated when we're asked to do something useful with a modern desktop OS where everything is hidden from us.

MacOS X is both UNIX and a modern desktop OS. This book explains the nuts and bolts to you--how launchd, spotlight, and other bits of Tiger work, how to use and make frameworks, how to compile software, how to make your system work the way a UNIX system should, and how to run a solid server even with the client version of Tiger are all covered. Tiger features such as Dashboard are largely ignored in favor of directory services, databases, and the MacOS X firewall.