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Lindsey Kuper

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OS X Ain't Linux [Nov. 22nd, 2005|03:07 pm]
Lindsey Kuper

I figured that it had been so long since I'd done anything interesting with Linux that I wouldn't notice any differences. But I do. I notice when gcc isn't installed by default. (What?) I notice when I have to create the root account myself. (Huh?) And I notice when "traditional tools such as adduser do not work as you might expect". (Translation: adduser doesn't exist.)

So (a) I guess maybe my Linux isn't quite as rusty as I thought, and (b) my idea of what it means for something to be a Unix OS is changing.

But not like I'm having second thoughts or anything. Oh no.

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Comments:
[User Picture]From: underwhelm
2005-11-22 11:24 pm (UTC)
Yeah, they did some zany stuff with the /etc directory. But you can make the environment more familiar pretty easily, and I think the defaults are relatively sane for ordinary desktop use.
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[User Picture]From: lindseykuper
2005-11-22 11:40 pm (UTC)

No prizes for whoever's first with the "Actually, she couldn't make anything!" joke

Yeah, couldn't agree more. I was just surprised that certain developer tools weren't there by default. What harm could it do?

Well, don't answer that.



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From: (Anonymous)
2005-11-27 12:20 am (UTC)

Re: No prizes for whoever's first with the "Actually, she couldn't make anything!" joke

just install xcode! sheesh, the installer comes with the os.
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[User Picture]From: lindseykuper
2005-11-27 06:43 am (UTC)

Re: No prizes for whoever's first with the "Actually, she couldn't make anything!" joke

I did install Xcode, thanks. I was just surprised that I had to install some of that stuff instead of it being installed by default.

I guess my deal is that I know so many developers using OS X that I tend to think of it as being made primarily for developers, and it takes something like this to remind me that, well, no, it's not -- not right out of the box, anyway. =)
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[User Picture]From: royhuggins
2005-11-23 01:21 am (UTC)
It's BSD, not Linux. It actually matches BSD relatively closely.
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[User Picture]From: lindseykuper
2005-11-23 02:57 am (UTC)
That's what I'm saying. Until now, I figured all Unixes were more or less Linux-ish, because that had been the extent of my experience. So now I have a broader idea of what a Unix can be.
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[User Picture]From: royhuggins
2005-11-23 03:07 am (UTC)
Ooooh, I see. Ya, I've run into that myself. Even just diffs between FreeBSD and OpenBSD have driven me crazy. I totally prefer the user-friendliness of Linux to both of them, of course.
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[User Picture]From: stingmeyer
2005-11-23 05:02 am (UTC)
Is there a "useradd?"--that's more standard. I think "adduser" is just a symlink to "useradd" in Linux.

O~
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[User Picture]From: lindseykuper
2005-11-23 06:19 am (UTC)
No. No "groupadd" (or "addgroup") either.
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From: mrr
2005-11-27 12:20 am (UTC)

real linux admins

real linux admins update /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow (or /etc/master.passwd :)) by hand.

also, you don't have to *add* a root user. 'sudo' is installed on OS X by default, and all admins have full sudo. you can 'sudo su -' and become root. 'sudo passwd root' will enable the root account. it's asking for *your* password, not the root users.

:-P
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[User Picture]From: lindseykuper
2005-11-27 06:59 am (UTC)

Re: real linux admins

Oops, by "add" I meant "enable".

The times I've installed Linux, I think it's always asked me what I wanted the root password to be sometime during installation. That didn't happen this time. I can understand why. I just wasn't used to it, that's all. =)
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