Unix Newbie

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Feb 11, 2008, at 16:33, Peter Hindrichs wrote:

> On 11-Feb-08, at 5:19 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
>
>> On Feb 11, 2008, at 16:07, Peter Hindrichs wrote:
>>
>>> I have followed all the recommendations in getting ready to use  
>>> ports. I have Xtools 3.0, X11, (with the latest version 2.1.3)  
>>> and downloaded Macports 1.6.0. I have also read that there is an  
>>> issue with 1.6.0 in setting up the .profile, my question is that  
>>> I don't know where to go from here, I clearly don't have the  
>>> right path setup, and I am not sure how to do that.
>>> Here is what I get if I input "env"
>>>
>>> Freedom:/ peterhin$ env
>>> MANPATH=/usr/share/man:/usr/local/share/man:/usr/X11/man
>>> TERM_PROGRAM=Apple_Terminal
>>> TERM=xterm-color
>>> SHELL=/bin/bash
>>> TMPDIR=/var/folders/Sd/SdnvDsNAHdqx7M41XmVmb++++TI/-Tmp-/
>>> Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render=/tmp/launch-OeUcxx/Render
>>> TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION=237
>>> USER=peterhin
>>> COMMAND_MODE=unix2003
>>> SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/launch-FkaAJd/Listeners
>>> __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING=0x1F5:0:0
>>> PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
>>> PWD=/
>>> LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
>>> SHLVL=1
>>> HOME=/Users/peterhin
>>> LOGNAME=peterhin
>>> DISPLAY=/tmp/launch-VZvhsj/:0
>>> SECURITYSESSIONID=b0f090
>>> _=/usr/bin/env
>>> OLDPWD=/Users/peterhin
>>>
>>> If someone would be so kind as to give me a little time and  
>>> explanation how I do this, and or direct me to some basic Unix  
>>> file changing info I would be very appreciative.
>>
>> See the Guide:
>>
>> http://guide.macports.org/#installing.shell
>>
>> Or my recent message to this list:
>>
>> http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-users/2008-February/ 
>> 008893.html
>
> Yes I have read all that, my question is more basic, do I just say  
> type  "sudo pico"  and then add that line  "PATH=/opt/local/bin:/ 
> opt/local/sbin:$PATH"
>
> and save.?
> I am trying this terminal approach to try and learn a new  
> environment and to keep my retired brain from atrophying. I hope  
> this is not a problem for you.?

Sure, if you like the pico editor, you can use that, though you'll  
have to tell pico which file to edit, which is either ~/.bash_profile  
if you have that, or ~/.profile if you have that, or if you don't  
have either one then it doesn't matter which you create. There's also  
no need for "sudo" since you don't need superuser access to edit your  
own terminal settings. So for example you could type "pico  
~/.bash_profile"

I prefer the TextWrangler editor, which is a normal Mac app available  
from http://www.barebones.com/ . It's free and includes the "edit"  
command so you just type e.g. "edit ~/.bash_profile" and it opens  
that file into the editor.