These are the installation instructions for the "source" distribution based on "fink-0.41.1" , intended for use with OS X v.10.9 and later.
This document does not apply to the "binary" distribution.
There are instructions for both first time installation and upgrading from a previous version. Fast track instructions for the impatient are at the top.
This section is for the impatient who don't want to take the time to learn their way around the command line world and don't care that they don't know what they're actually doing.
If you're looking for the real instructions, skip to the next section. (You can still use this section as an example.)
You need:
-
An installed Mac OS X system, version 10.9 or later.
-
The Xcode Command Line Tools are mandatory. This package can be installed either by downloading it directly via developer.apple.com, or by running the
xcode-select --installcommand and choosing the Install button in the window that pops up. You may also need to use this command to update the tools, especially if you're having build problems.If you're doing a manual download, make sure that the tools you install match your Mac OS X version.
You will need to accept the Xcode license as root. To do that, run
sudo xcodebuild -licensethen scroll to the bottom of the text and type
agreeSome packages require the full Xcode.
Some packages require the full Xcode.
-
Java. Entering
javacfrom a Terminal.app window should suffice to make the system download it for you. -
Many other things that come with Mac OS X. This includes
perlandcurl. -
Internet access. All source code is downloaded from mirror sites.
-
Patience. Compiling several big packages takes time. I'm talking hours or even days here.
Download the Install Fink.tool [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fink/scripts/master/srcinstaller/Install%20Fink.tool] script and double-click on it. This will automate the downloads in the steps below.
The script may have to stop for you to do something. If so, run it again.
Start out by copying the "fink-0.41.1.tar.gz" file to your home folder (it might also show up as "fink-0.41.1.tar" if you used Safari to download it). Then, open Terminal.app and follow the session below. Computer output is in "normal (monospaced) face", your input is in "bold face" (or otherwise highlighted). The actual input prompts from the shell may vary, and some chunks of the output have been omitted ( "..." ).
Note: You may see dialog windows asking whether you want to install Xquartz. If you want to do so, go ahead. You won't have to stop the Fink install to do that.
[frodo:~] testuser% tar xf fink-0.41.1.tar.gz
[frodo:~] testuser% cd fink-0.41.1
[frodo:~/fink-0.41.1] testuser% ./bootstrap
Fink must be installed and run with superuser (root) privileges
...
Choose a method: [1]
1
sudo /Users/testuser/fink-0.41.1/bootstrap .sudo '/opt/sw'
Password:
(your normal password here)
...
OK, I'll ask you some questions and update the configuration file in
'/opt/sw/etc/fink.conf'.
In what additional directory should Fink look for downloaded tarballs? []
(press return)
Which directory should Fink use to build packages? (If you don't know what this
means, it is safe to leave it at its default.) []
(press return)
Fink can set the UID and GID of its build user dynamically. Allow Fink to set the UID GID dynamically? [Y]
(press return)
(1) Quiet (do not show download statistics)
(2) Low (do not show tarballs being expanded)
(3) Medium (will show almost everything)
(4) High (will show everything)
How verbose should Fink be? [2] **(press return)**
Proxy/Firewall settings
Enter the URL of the HTTP proxy to use, or 'none' for no proxy.
The URL should start with http:// and may contain username, password or port specifications. [none]
(press return)
Enter the URL of the proxy to use for FTP, or 'none' for no proxy.
The URL should start with http:// and may contain username, password or port specifications. [none]
(press return)
Use passive mode FTP transfers (to get through a firewall)? [Y/n]
y
Enter the maximum number of simultaneous build jobs.
...
Maximum number of simultaneous build jobs: [<number of cpus>]
(press return)
Mirror selection
Choose a continent:
...
(enter the numbers corresponding to your location)
...
Writing updated configuration to '/opt/sw/etc/fink.conf'...
Bootstrapping a base system via /opt/sw/bootstrap.
...
(take a coffee break while Fink downloads and compiles the base packages)
...
You should now have a working Fink installation in '/opt/sw'.
[frodo:~/fink-0.41.1] testuser% cd
[frodo:~] testuser% rm -r fink-0.41.1
[frodo:~] testuser% /opt/sw/bin/pathsetup.sh
The last command runs a little script to help set up your Unix paths (and other things) for use with Fink. In most cases, it will run automatically, and prompt you for permission to make changes. If the script fails, you'll have to do things by hand.
(If you need to do things by hand, and you are using csh or tcsh, you need to make sure that the command "source /opt/sw/bin/init.csh" is executed during startup of your shell, either by .login, .cshrc, .tcshrc, or something else appropriate. If you are using bash or similar shells, the command you need is ". /opt/sw/bin/init.sh" , and places where it might get executed include .bashrc and .profile.)
Once you have set up the paths, open a new Terminal.app window, and close all other ones. That's it, you now have a base system installed.
Before you can install additional packages, you will need to download their descriptions. To do this, in your new Terminal.app window, ether use:
[frodo:~] testuser% fink selfupdate-rsync
Password:
(your normal password here)
Please note: the simple command 'fink selfupdate' should be used for routine
updating; you only need to use a command like 'fink selfupdate-cvs' or 'fink
selfupdate --method=rsync' if you are changing your update method.
...
(wait for the downloads to finish)
(preferred) or
[frodo:~] testuser% fink selfupdate-cvs
Password:
(your normal password here)
Please note: the simple command `fink selfupdate` should be used for routine
updating; you only need to use a command like `fink selfupdate-cvs` or `fink
selfupdate --method=rsync` if you are changing your update method.
fink is setting your default update method to cvs
Fink has the capability to run the CVS commands as a normal user. That has some
advantages - it uses that user's CVS settings files and allows the package
descriptions to be edited and updated without becoming root. Please specify the
user login name that should be used: [<your username>]
(press return)
For Fink developers only: Enter your SourceForge login name to set up full CVS
access. Other users, just press return to set up anonymous read-only access.
[anonymous]
(press return)
Checking to see if we can use hard links to merge the existing tree. Please
ignore errors on the next few lines.
Now logging into the CVS server. When CVS asks you for a password, just press
return (i.e. the password is empty).
/usr/bin/su hansen -c 'cvs -d":pserver:[email protected]:/cvsroot/fink" login'
Logging in to :pserver:[email protected]:2401/cvsroot/fink
CVS password:
(press return)
Logging in to :pserver:[email protected]:2401/cvsroot/fink
...
(wait for the downloads to finish)
especially if you are using a proxy.
You should also run
sudo xcodebuild -license
and enter agree so that Fink's unprivileged user can build packages that need more than just the basic tools.
You can now install additional packages with the "fink" command, like this:
[frodo:~] testuser% fink install gimp2
Password:
Scanning package description files..........
Information about 6230 packages read in 1 seconds.
fink needs help picking an alternative to satisfy a virtual dependency. The
candidates:
(1) db51-aes: Berkeley DB embedded database - crypto
(2) db51: Berkeley DB embedded database - non crypto
Pick one: [1]
The following package will be installed or updated:
gimp2
The following 308 additional packages will be installed:
aalib aalib-bin aalib-shlibs asciidoc atk1 atk1-shlibs autoconf2.6
automake1.11 automake1.11-core blt-dev blt-shlibs boost1.46.1.cmake
boost1.46.1.cmake-shlibs cairo cairo-shlibs celt-dev celt-shlibs cmake
cpan-meta-pm5124 cpan-meta-requirements-pm5124 cpan-meta-yaml-pm
cyrus-sasl2-dev cyrus-sasl2-shlibs daemonic db51-aes db51-aes-shlibs db53-aes
db53-aes-shlibs dbus dbus-glib1.2-dev dbus-glib1.2-shlibs dbus1.3-dev
dbus1.3-shlibs dirac-dev dirac-shlibs docbook-bundle docbook-dsssl-ldp
docbook-dsssl-nwalsh docbook-dtd docbook-xsl doxygen expat1 expat1-shlibs
exporter-pm extutils-cbuilder-pm extutils-command-pm extutils-install-pm
extutils-makemaker-pm extutils-makemaker-pm5124 extutils-manifest-pm
file-copy-recursive-pm file-temp-pm5124 fink-package-precedence flag-sort
fltk-x11 fltk-x11-shlibs fontconfig-config fontconfig2-dev fontconfig2-shlibs
freeglut freeglut-shlibs freetype219 freetype219-shlibs gawk gconf2-dev
gconf2-shlibs gd2 gd2-bin gd2-shlibs gdbm3 gdbm3-shlibs getoptbin
gettext-tools ghostscript ghostscript-fonts giflib giflib-bin giflib-shlibs
gimp2-shlibs glib2-dev glib2-shlibs glitz glitz-shlibs gmp5 gmp5-shlibs
gnome-doc-utils gnutls-2.12 gnutls-2.12-shlibs graphviz graphviz-shlibs grep
gtk+2 gtk+2-dev gtk+2-shlibs gtk-doc gtkglext1 gtkglext1-shlibs gts75
gts75-shlibs guile18 guile18-dev guile18-libs guile18-shlibs ilmbase
ilmbase-shlibs intltool40 iso-codes jack-dev jack-shlibs json-pp-pm lame-dev
lame-shlibs lcms lcms-shlibs libavcodec52-shlibs libavformat52-shlibs
libavutil50-shlibs libbabl0.1.0-dev libbabl0.1.0-shlibs libbonobo2
libbonobo2-dev libbonobo2-shlibs libcelt0.2-dev libcelt0.2-shlibs libcroco3
libcroco3-shlibs libdatrie1 libdatrie1-shlibs libexif12 libexif12-shlibs
libflac8 libflac8-dev libgcrypt libgcrypt-shlibs libgegl0.1.0-dev
libgegl0.1.0-shlibs libgettext3-dev libgettext3-shlibs libgettextpo2-dev
libgettextpo2-shlibs libglade2 libglade2-shlibs libgmpxx5-shlibs libgpg-error
libgpg-error-shlibs libgsf1.114-dev libgsf1.114-shlibs libgsm1-dev
libgsm1-shlibs libhogweed-shlibs libidl2 libidl2-shlibs libidn libidn-shlibs
libjasper.1 libjasper.1-shlibs libjpeg libjpeg-bin libjpeg-shlibs libjpeg8
libjpeg8-shlibs liblzma5 liblzma5-shlibs libming1-dev libming1-shlibs libmng2
libmng2-shlibs libncursesw5 libncursesw5-shlibs libogg libogg-shlibs
liboil-0.3 liboil-0.3-shlibs libopencore-amr0 libopencore-amr0-shlibs
libopenexr6-shlibs libopenjpeg libopenjpeg-shlibs libopenraw1-dev
libopenraw1-shlibs libpaper1-dev libpaper1-shlibs libpcre1 libpcre1-shlibs
libpng14 libpng14-shlibs libpng15 libpng15-shlibs libpng3 libpng3-shlibs
librarian.08-shlibs librsvg2 librsvg2-shlibs libschroedinger
libschroedinger-shlibs libsigsegv2 libsigsegv2-shlibs libsndfile1-dev
libsndfile1-shlibs libsoup2.4.1-ssl libsoup2.4.1-ssl-shlibs libspeex1
libspeex1-shlibs libspiro0 libspiro0-shlibs libtasn1-3 libtasn1-3-shlibs
libthai libthai-dev libthai-shlibs libtheora0 libtheora0-shlibs
libtheoradec1-shlibs libtheoraenc1-shlibs libtiff libtiff-bin libtiff-shlibs
libtool2 libtool2-shlibs libvorbis0 libvorbis0-shlibs libvpx libwmf
libwmf-shlibs libx264-115-dev libx264-115-shlibs libxml2 libxml2-bin
libxml2-py27 libxml2-shlibs libxslt libxslt-bin libxslt-shlibs lua51 lua51-dev
lua51-shlibs lynx m4 nasm netpbm10 netpbm10-shlibs nettle4a nettle4a-shlibs
ocaml openexr openexr-dev openjade openldap24-dev openldap24-shlibs opensp-bin
opensp5-dev opensp5-shlibs openssl100-dev openssl100-shlibs orbit2 orbit2-dev
orbit2-shlibs pango1-xft2-ft219 pango1-xft2-ft219-dev pango1-xft2-ft219-shlibs
parse-cpan-meta-pm passwd-core passwd-messagebus pixman pixman-shlibs
pkgconfig poppler-data poppler4 poppler4-glib poppler4-glib-shlibs
poppler4-shlibs popt popt-shlibs python27 python27-shlibs rarian rarian-compat
readline5 readline5-shlibs readline6 readline6-shlibs sdl sdl-shlibs
sgml-entities-iso8879 shared-mime-info sqlite3-dev sqlite3-shlibs swig
system-openssl-dev tcltk tcltk-dev tcltk-shlibs test-harness-pm5124
test-simple-pm5124 texi2html texinfo version-pm5124
version-requirements-pm5124 xdg-base xft2-dev xft2-shlibs xinitrc
xml-parser-pm5124 xmlto xvidcore xvidcore-shlibs xz yasm
The following 2 packages might be temporarily removed:
lcms tcltk-dev
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
...
If these instructions don't work for you, well, you'll have to take the time to read through the rest of this document and the online FAQ. You can also ask on the fink-users mailing list, but expect to be pointed back at the documentation when your problem actually is well-documented.
You need:
-
An installed Mac OS X system, version 10.9 or later.
-
The Xcode Command Line Tools are mandatory. This package can be installed either by downloading it directly via developer.apple.com, or on by running the
xcode-select --installcommand and choosing the Install button in the window that pops up, or you can install the full Xcode if you prefer. You may also need to use this command to update the tools, especially if you're having build problems.If you're doing a manual download, make sure that the tools you install match your Mac OS X version.
You will need to accept the Xcode license as root. To do that, run
sudo xcodebuild -licensethen scroll to the bottom of the text and type
agreeSome packages require the full Xcode.
-
Java. Entering
javacfrom a Terminal.app window should suffice to make the system download it for you, (10.7, 10.9, 10.10) or open up a browser window from which you can downloadthe latest Java JDK (10.8). -
Many other things that come with Mac OS X and the Developer Tools. This includes
perlandcurl. -
Internet access. All source code is downloaded from mirror sites.
-
Patience. Compiling several big packages takes time. I'm talking hours or even days here.
Before you install, you must decide where Fink's directory hierarchy will live. The recommended place is /opt/sw, and all examples in this document will use that. Any other directory should be fine as well, as long as you don't use existing directories like /usr/local or /usr. The bootstrap script tries to catch these.
If you intend to use the binary distribution (through apt-get / dselect), you must install to /opt/sw. Unfortunately, binary packages are not relocatable.
The directory that you choose must not contain any spaces or similar. Both Unix itself and the bulk of Unix software were written under this assumption. Using symlinks to trick the bootstrap script simply won't work.
A special note about /usr/local: While it is possible to install Fink in /usr/local (and the bootstrap script will let you do that after a confirmation), it is a bad idea. Many third party software packages install into /usr/local. This can cause severe problems for Fink, including overwriting files, dpkg refusing to install packages and strange build errors. Also, the /usr/local hierarchy is in the default search path for the shell and the compiler. That means that it is much more difficult to get back to a working system when things break. You have been warned.
First, you need to unpack the fink-0.41.1.tar.gz tarball (it might also show up as "fink-0.41.1.tar" if you used Safari to download it). So, in a terminal window, go to the directory where you put the tarball, and run this command:
tar xf fink-0.41.1.tar.gz
You now have a directory named fink-0.41.1. Change to it with "cd fink-0.41.1".
The actual installation is performed by the perl script bootstrap. So, to start installation, go to the fink-0.41.1 directory and run this command:
./bootstrap
After running some tests, the script will ask you what method should be used to gain root privileges. The most useful choice is 'sudo'. On a default install of Mac OS X, sudo is already enabled for the user account created during installation. The script will immediately use the method you choose to become root. This is required for the installation.
Next, the script will ask you for the installation path. See 'Choosing A Directory' above for hints about this. The script will create the directory and set it up for the bootstrap that will be done later.
Next up is Fink configuration. The process should be self-explaining. You will be asked how you want to set up fink's build user account. If you are on a networked system where the users and groups are on a central server, you can select the parameters manually--check with your network administrator as to what to use. You will also be asked about proxies -- again, check with your network administrator, and to select mirror sites for downloads. If you don't know what to say, you can just press Return and Fink will use a reasonable default value.
Finally, the script has enough information to conduct the bootstrap process. That means it will now download, build and install some essential packages. Don't worry if you see some packages being compiled twice. This is required because to build a binary package of the package manager, you first must have the package manager available.
Note: on 10.8, after you start the install process you may see dialog windows asking whether you want to install Xquartz. If you want to do so, go ahead. You won't have to stop the Fink install to do that.
After the bootstrap procedure finishes, run "/opt/sw/bin/pathsetup.sh" to help set up your shell environment for use with Fink. In most cases, it will run automatically, and prompt you for permission to make changes. If the script fails, you'll have to do things by hand (see below).
(If you need to do things by hand, and you are using csh or tcsh, you need to make sure that the command "source /opt/sw/bin/init.csh" is executed during startup of your shell, either by .login, .cshrc, .tcshrc, or something else appropriate. If you are using bash or similar shells, the command you need
is ". /opt/sw/bin/init.sh" , and places where it might get executed include .bashrc and .profile.)
Once your environment is set up, start a new terminal window to ensure that the changes get implemented. You will now need to have Fink download package descriptions for you.
You can use
fink selfupdate-rsync
to download package descriptions using rsync. This is the preferred option for most users, since it is quick and there are multiple mirror sites available.
However, rsync is often blocked by network administrators. If your firewall doesn't allow you to use rsync, then you can try
fink selfupdate-cvs
to download package descriptions using cvs. If you have an HTTP proxy set up, fink will pass its information along to cvs. Note: you can only use anonymous cvs (pserver) through a proxy.
You can now use "fink" commands to install packages.
fink --help
is a useful place to get more information about how to use "fink" .
Fink uses virtual packages to declare dependencies on X11. As of OS 10.5, we don't provide any packages of our own. The supported options are:
-
10.9: Only XQuartz 2.7.4 and later.
-
10.10-11: Only XQuartz 2.7.7 and later.
For more information on installing and running X11, refer to the online X11 on Darwin and Mac OS X document https://www.finkproject.org/doc/x11/.
You can update Fink with the built-in 'selfupdate' command. Note: this is not guaranteed to be sufficient if you updated OS X.
To update Fink, run the following command:
fink selfupdate
This will automatically update your existing Fink installation to use the latest package manager, and also update all essential packages. However, it will not update any other packages.
The above updating steps will not update the actual packages, they only provide you with the means to do so. The easiest way to get the new packages is to use the 'update-all' command:
fink update-all
This will bring all installed packages to the latest version. If you don't want to do this (it may take some time), you can update individual packages with the 'update' command.
There are situations, which normally don't come up every day, in which you may find that you need to install Fink over again.
-
You want to move Fink to a different path.
-
You want to update, or have already updated, OS X between versions where Fink doesn't support an upgrade path:
-
10.4 -> 10.6+
-
10.5 -> 10.7+
-
10.6 -> 10.7+
-
10.8- -> 10.9+
-
You have updated from 10.5 to 10.6 with XQuartz-2.4 or later installed, and X11-based libraries and executables stop working.
-
Your Fink installation has linked to libraries, e.g. from MacPorts or "/usr/local" , which have been removed from your machine thereby breaking some of your Fink libraries and executables.
To save time after you have reinstalled Fink, you can get a transcript of your installed packages. The following command in a terminal window will work, even if for some reason the Fink tools aren't functioning:
grep -B1 "install ok installed" /opt/sw/var/lib/dpkg/status \
| grep "^Package:" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d\ -f2 > finkinst.txt
This will save the list of your packages in the file "finkinst.txt" in the current working directory.
You may also want to copy or move the sources in "/opt/sw/src" to another location so that you don't have to spend time downloading them when you begin restoring your Fink distribution.
In addition, if you have made global configuration changes to any of your packages by editing configuration files in "/opt/sw/etc", then you may wish to back those up.
Once you've backed everything up, you are ready to remove your Fink distribution. You can remove "/opt/sw" as well as anything in "/Applications/Fink" using the Finder or the command line:
sudo rm -rf /opt/sw /Applications/Fink/*
(Replace "/opt/sw" by your actual Fink tree).
First, follow the first-time install instructions.
Once you have downloaded package descriptions, you can put the sources that you backed up into "/opt/sw/src" either using the Finder or the command line:
sudo cp /path/to/backup/* /opt/sw/src
(As usual, replace "/opt/sw" with your Fink tree). If you prefer, you can use "fink configure" to specify your backup location:
In what additional directory should Fink look for downloaded tarballs? []
(enter your backup directory at the prompt)
Note: this requires that the entire path to and including your backup directory is world-readable.
You can also restore your global configuration files at this time. Note: we recommend that you not restore "/opt/sw/etc/fink.conf" from your prior installation of Fink, to avoid incompatibilities. You can open it up in a text editor and enter the corresponding values into "fink configure".