Sebastopol, CA--If you're one of the many Unix developers drawn to Mac OS X for its BSD core, you'll find yourself in surprisingly unfamiliar territory. Even if you're an experienced Mac user, Mac OS X is unlike earlier Macs, and it's radically different from the Unix you've used before, too.
Enter Mac OS X for Unix Geeks (O'Reilly, US $24.95) by Brian Jepson and Ernest E. Rothman, two Unix geeks who found themselves in the same place as many others. Their new book is the guide to figuring out the BSD Unix system and Mac-specific components that can make life difficult for newcomers and help them into the Unix inside Mac OS X. This concise book includes such topics as:
- A quick overview of the Terminal application
- Understanding Open Directory (LDAP) and NetInfo
- Issues related to using the GNU C Compiler 9GCC
- Library linking and porting Unix software
- An overview of Mac OS X's filesystem and startup processes
- Creating and installing packages using Fink
- Building the Darwin kernel
- Running X Windows 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 although there are no manpages.
Unix users who find themselves disoriented by the new Mac environment will discover that "Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" acclimates them quickly to the familiar, yet foreign, Unix landscape.
Additional resources:
"Mac OS X for Unix Geeks," is also available on Safari Books Online
Chapter 3, Directory Services is available free online
More information about the book, including Table of Contents, index, author bios, and samples
Mac OS X for Unix Geeks
Brian Jepson & Ernest E. Rothman
ISBN 0-596-00356-0, 198 pages, $24.95 (US), $38.95 (CAN)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000
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