Re: [Fink-beginners] About Fink

[Josh <the...@gm...>]

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?

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.

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?

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)?

Josh


On 8/28/07, Hanspeter Niederstrasser <fi...@sn...> wrote:
>
> Josh wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I recently switched over to Mac OSX from Windows, and I wanted to know
> > more about Fink. When Fink is installed on my Mac, what happens? Is it a
> > background program that runs all the time, or is it like an application
> > that I can open and quit at my disgression? Also, I was led to the page
> > mainly through one program, Valknut. Hoping to switch seemlessly from
> > DC++ to a Mac-able program, I can only get Valknut through Fink? If so
> > (and I'm assuming that Valknut is a Linux program, and that Fink will
> > automatically compile it/port it for me onto Mac), will I need to run
> > Fink everytime I want to use Valknut? Can I uninstall Fink after I have
> > installed Valknut? Thanks.
> >
> > Josh
>
> Fink is a set of tools that lets you manage the installation of programs
> (packages in the Fink lingo).  Some packages are Mac specific programs,
> some are multi platform, some were originally Linux specific but have
> been ported over by people in the Fink project.  You can see the list of
> packages available at <http://pdb.finkproject.org/pdb/>.
>
> Fink does not run in the background but only when you call it to
> install/remove a package.  The package(s) that you install can sometimes
> be an always running program (like say the apache web server), but most
> are normal programs (like games, text editors, drawing programs, etc).
> Fink can be run either from the command line (type 'man fink' in
> Terminal.app for all it's options) or with a graphical front end called
> Fink Commander that then runs the necessary commands in the background.
> Both do the same thing, just different ways.
>
> (Most) everything that Fink installs goes into the folder /sw on your
> hard drive (unless you changed the default).  If you ever want to remove
> Fink (and everything else it installed), just remove that folder and
> that's it.  One of the FAQs on the Fink homepage go through all the
> details on how to do it completely.  This will, however, remove all the
> packages that were installed with Fink, not just the Fink tools.
>
> As far as Valknut is concerned (I'm the Valknut maintainer for the Fink
> project), you can install Valknut using Fink which then takes care of
> downloading, building and installing all the supporting libraries that
> Valknut requires.
>
> This is as easy as installing the package valknut-x11 or valknut-aqua
> (-aqua looks more Mac like, -x11 looks more linux/unixish but the
> interface has some less bugs).  The underlying functionality is the
> same.  You can install both packages to test which you you like more
> (just don't run them at the same time!)
>
> However, I do have precompiled binaries of Valknut available at
> <http://www.snaggledworks.com/software/valknut/>, although none are
> currently available for Intel Macs (which is what I'm guessing you
> probably have), so if you have an Intel Mac, you currently need to use
> Fink to install Valknut (which does know how to build on Intel Macs).
>
> If you install Valknut via Fink, you cannot remove Fink and expect
> Valknut (or whatever other package you install with it) to continue
> functioning because you'll invariably remove something that they
> require.  Also, the aggregate size of the Fink tools is small compared
> to even a small program that Fink can install, so not much hard drive
> space is saved if you could just delete the Fink tools.  And once a
> package is installed, you don't use the Fink tools to actually run the
> program, only to (un)install it.  The programs themselves are run on
> their own as if you had manually done the installation yourself.
>
> Hanspeter
>
>