Through another post, I was told to download Fink and install Python through it to get my scripts working correctly (kept getting an “import os” error).
I downloaded Fink 0.6.3 (for OSX 10.2) but I haven’t installed it yet. I’m a little nervous to install it because from what I’ve seen, it looks like it requires some Terminal knowledge, and I have no idea how to work from the Terminal. My problem comes in here, because I’m a bit nervous installing something that requires me to get into my system to do something. All I want to do is get scripts working correctly. Can anyone answer these questions for me?
Is there a right or wrong to install Fink?
Can I harm my system in any way?
I’ve read Fink downloads Open Source projects. How is this different from just downloading the full version of Python (which I’ve already done)?
It seems most people who need Fink who are on Jaguar (10.3). Do I really need it?
It doesn’t require any real Unix/shell knowlege per-se, but you do need to type text into the terminal and that can be strange if you’re not used to it. You can just follow the instructions though and be OK
Is there a right or wrong to install Fink?
I guess you can screw it up, if you don’t follow all the steps or something.
Can I harm my system in any way?
Yes, if you try hard enough. But probably not.
I’ve read Fink downloads Open Source projects. How is this different from just downloading the full version of Python
What Fink does is to set up it’s own set of packages which are ready to build and install automatically. Downloading source code and building it yourself can be time consuming, and sometimes you need to twiddle the code to get it to work on the Mac, and usually a package will require another package from some other website to be present to build or run. That could depend on other things, etc. Fink has already set it all up to do that automatically, including fetching and installing the required packages. Which is great. You just say “fink install foo” to a Terminal and it does everything for you.
(which I’ve already done)?
In this case, and you don’t think you’ll end up using Fink for anything else, you might as well take a shot and installing just the Python that you’ve downloaded.
There is a GUI front-end for Fink, I think it’s called Fink Commander or something like that. It’s a little clunky but is useful in looking at all the available packages and updating/installing with a button click rather than remembering the Terminal commands.