Product Description

With its rep for being the sort of machine that won't intimidate even the most inexperienced users, what's the appeal of the Mac(R) for hard-core geeks? The Mac has always been an efficient tool, pleasant to use and customize, and eminently hackable. But now with Mac OS(R) X's BSD core, many a Unix(R) developer has found it irresistible. The latest version of Mac OS X, called Panther, makes it even easier for users to delve into the underlying Unix operating system. In fact, you can port Linux(R) and Unix applications and run them side-by-side with your native Aqua(R) apps right on the Mac desktop. Still, even experienced Unix users may find themselves in surprisingly unfamiliar territory as they set out to explore Mac OS X. Even if you know Macs through and through, Mac OS X Panther is unlike earlier Macs, and it's radically different from the Unix you've used before. Enter Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks by Brian Jepson and Ernest E. Rothman, two Unix geeks who found themselves in the same place you are. The new edition of this book is your guide to figuring out the BSD Unix system and Panther-specific components that you may find challenging. This concise book will ease you into the Unix innards of Mac OS X Panther, covering such topics as: A quick overview of the Terminal application, including Terminal alternatives like iTerm and GLterm Understanding Open Directory (LDAP) and NetInfo Issues related to using the GNU C Compiler (GCC) Library linking and porting Unix software An overview of Mac OS X Panther's filesystem and startup processes Creating and installing packages using Fink and Darwin Ports Building the Darwin kernel Using the Apple(R) X11 distribution for running X Windows(R) applications on top of Mac OS X The book wraps up with a quick manpage-style reference to the "Missing Manual Pages" --commands that come with Mac OS X Panther, although there are no manpages. If you find yourself disoriented by the new Mac environment, Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks will get you acclimated quickly to the foreign new areas of a familiar Unix landscape.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #850803 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Publisher
If you find yourself disoriented by the new Mac® environment, Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks will get you acclimated quickly to the foreign new areas of a familiar Unix® landscape. The new edition of this book is your guide to figuring out the BSD Unix system and Panther-specific components that you may find challenging. The book includes a quick manpage-style reference to the "Missing Manual Pages" --commands that come with Mac OS X Panther, although there are no manpages.

About the Author
Brian Jepson is an O'Reilly editor, programmer, and co-author of Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks and Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther. 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 Rothman is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Salve Regina University (SRU), where he is also Chair of the Mathematical Sciences Department as well as Manager of the Computational Science Program. Before SRU, Ernie held the position of Research Associate at the Cornell Theory Center at Cornell University. Ernie holds a PhD degree in Applied Mathematics from Brown University. His academic interests are primarily in Scientific Computing, and Computational Science Education

Excerpted from Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks by Brian Jepson, Ernest E. Rothman. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER 14 - MySQL and PostgreSQL

Although there are some great binary distributions for MySQL and PostgreSQL, both build out of the box on Mac OS X. This chapter describes how to install them from source and get them set up so you can start playing with them. Fink is a good first stop for MySQL or PostgreSQL, since you can use it to install a binary build or compile from source.

You can also get MySQL as a binary package from MySQL AB, as well as Server Logistics. Server Logistics offers a selection of open source packages, one of which is Complete MySQL, which includes the MySQL server, a System Preferences pane for MySQL, ODBC/JDBC drivers, and documentation.

MySQL
To get the source distribution of MySQL, download the latest tarball. At the time of this writing, the latest production release was the 4.0.x series; we downloaded mysql-4.0.16.tar.gz.

Compiling MySQL
To compile MySQL from source:
1. Extract the tarball:

$ cd ~/src
$ tar xvfz ~/Desktop/mysql-4.0.16.tar.gz

2. Change to the top-level directory that tar created and run the configure script. We suggest specifying a prefix of /usr/local/mysql so it stays out the way of any other binaries you have in /usr/local.

$ cd mysql-4.0.16
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysq

3. Next, type make to compile MySQL. Go get a few cups of coffee (compiling
could take 30 minutes or more).

Installing MySQL
If the compilation succeeded, you’re ready to install MySQL. If not, you should first search the MySQL mailing list archives to see if anyone has reported the same problem you experienced, and whether a fix is available (otherwise, you should submit a bug report). If you’re having a lot of trouble here, you may want to install one of the binary packages. If everything went OK, you can now install MySQL:

1. Run make install as root:
$ sudo make install

2. Install the default databases:
$ sudo ./scripts/mysql_install_db

3. Set permissions on the MySQL directories:
$ sudo chown -R root /usr/local/mysql
$ sudo chown -R mysql /usr/local/mysql/var
$ sudo chgrp -R mysql /usr/local/mysql

4. Install a configuration file (my-small.cnf, my-medium.cnf, my-large.cnf, or my-huge.cnf):
$ sudo cp support-files/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf

5. Now you’re ready to install a startup script for MySQL. See "Startup Items" in Chapter 2 for a sample MySQL startup script. (For now, leave out the --password=password from the startup script. You can add it back in, with the appropriate password, after you set the MySQL root password.) After you’ve created the startup script, start MySQL:

$ sudo SystemStarter start MySQL

Configuring MySQL
Next, you need to configure MySQL. At a minimum, set the root user’s password and create a user and a working database for that user. Before using MySQL, add the following line to your .bash_profile and start a new Terminal window to pick up the settings:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin

To set the root password and create a new user:

1. Use mysqladmin to set a password for the root user (qualified as root@localhost and just plain old root). When you enter the second line, be prompted for the password you created on the first line:

$ mysqladmin -u root password 'password'
$ mysqladmin -u root -p -h localhost password 'password'
Enter password: ********

2. Create a database for your user (you’ll be prompted for the mysql root user’s password):
$ mysqladmin -u root -p create dbname
Enter password: ********

3. Log into the mysql shell as root, and grant full control over that database to your user, qualified as user@localhost and just the username alone (the -> prompt indicates that you pressed return without completing the command, and the mysql shell is waiting for more input):

$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password: ********
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 12 to server version: 4.0.16-log

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON dbname.* TO username@localhost
-> IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.08 sec)

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON dbname.* TO username
-> IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> quit
Bye

Customer Reviews

OS X for Unix hackers ...
I recently bought myself a 12" iBook for two reasons - firstly to see if Mac OS X is as good as it's cracked up to be (it is) and secondly to have a fiddle with the UNIX underpinnings of the system.

I've been developing Linux software for over 10 years, so I'm fairly familiar with how various UNIXes work, but after a few hours of fiddling and trying to get various bits of my software to compile on the iBook I came to realise that although MacOS X is based on Mach/FreeBSD, Apple have decided to do things a little differently.

This is where 'MacOS X Panther for Unix Geeks' comes in.

As the title suggests, this isn't really a beginners book as it assumes some knowledge of UNIX and, particularly, that the reader is comfortable with a command line interface. Whilst the book does cover the performance of certain tasks using the Aqua GUI, it's often quicker to do things from the command line, and to their credit the authors realise this.

The book's contents cover a wide variety of topics, including system administration (creating/deleting users), basic networking and the setting up of internet services (ssh, FTP etc.). More interesting from my point of view were the chapters on software development which covered Apple's version of the X Windows system, the Fink software collection (uses the package management system from Debian Linux and provides a whole load of stuff that Linux hackers will be familiar with, precompiled for OS X) and the differences between Apple's version of gcc and the versions that Linux users may be more familiar with - given the assorted 'gotchas' associated with porting from Linux to OS X, this last part alone makes the book worth the money.

A definite return to form for O'Reilly and highly recommended for Unix/Linux users who've 'made the switch' to a Mac. Not so good for beginners who'd probably be better off with 'Running Mac OS X Panther' instead.

Even so, given that Apple have named versions of OS X after big cats (Puma, Jaguar, Panther and the forthcoming Tiger), why do O'Reilly put dogs on the cover of their MacOS X books? :-)