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Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks
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Product Description
Cameron Laird - unixreview.com, August 2005
If you're reading this review, you should get your own copy of Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks.
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.
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12 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A Little Heady, But Not Unbearably So...
22 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
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.
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
How to "Unix" on your Mac...
19 Jun 2005
Format:Paperback
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.
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
THE book to buy if you come from UNIX
15 Jun 2005
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
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