dicianno.org/blog

Attempting to install postgres via Darwin Ports forced me, for the first time to try to utilize variants. From what I understand, variants are somewhat like USE flags in Gentoo, but beyond that, I don’t know much.

The default postgres version in port is still 7, but postgresql8 is also in port, and currently is version 8.1.3. Looking at its Portfile, we can see that the server variant tells you handy commands that assist in setting up the server. To install the server variant, run:

sudo port install postgresql8 +server

After the install, if you load NetInfo Manager, you’ll notice that a postgres8 user was added. That user is used to set permissions in the steps you are asked to execute by the port post-install process. Follow the directions for setting up the default database, as well as interfacing with launchd. Reading man launchctl can’t hurt either.

The following seems to restart the server, not stop it:

sudo launchctl stop org.darwinports.postgresql8

The following can be used to fully stop the server:

sudo launchctl unload -w /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.darwinports.postgresql8/org.darwinports.postgresql8.plist

… and to start (from a stopped state):

sudo launchctl load -w /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.darwinports.postgresql8/org.darwinports.postgresql8.plist

Slashdot has a way of blowing things out of the water, but as reported by them here, it looks like Apple may either be 0) taking extra long committing Intel-specific code into Darwin, 1) giving up on Free Software with respect to Darwin, or 2) on their way to closing more and more of the platform.

Full story here.

As many posters on Slashdot noted, I believe people have been silly for ever considering OSX an open and free platform. OSX isn’t free software, just some of its components are.

I like using Mac OSX overall, but my expertise (and heart) are in GNU / Linux based systems. I really hope Apple is either truly just taking a long time freeing the code. They could be simply taking a long time untangling proprietary code that they are license-encumbered to not free; for example, possibly information in drivers written to utilize the TPM chipset.

Mildly depressing, this all is. I hope it turns out well, for those of us who all use non-free operating systems.

I’m starting a Macintosh and OSX category, since I now am, once again, the owner of a Mac (with the point of runnin OSX — I’ve used Linux on PowerPC for a long time).  I figure I need a place to keep handy notes, so…there you go.

These are the most common options I use as a default terminal.

e.g.

“rxvt-unicode” is a really nice terminal. You can increase loading speed and memory using, if you tend to use multiple terminals, by using the urxvtd daemon and the urxvtc client.

First, you need to launch urxvtd. This is as easy as adding a line like the following to your ~/.xinitrc:

Once the daemon is running in the background, you can connect to it with urxtvc. Then a terminal launches, and you are ready to it as usual.

I’m going to try to keep things I’ve learned about different command line apps here.  I tend to move between more heavy desktop environments and lighter (and more interesting) window managers like ion3 or wmii.

This time, I’m going to actually keep notes of the different programs I use.  This will include programs like rxvt-unicode, my terminal of choice, and mutt, which is arguably the best (or simply most popular) cli mail client.