b33k34;248545 Wrote: 
> :/ new to mac and new to unix so can you give slightly more idiot proof
> instructions!  
> - Suitable text editor on the mac?
> - unix line endings?
> - make executable via the Terminal?
> 
> thanks

TextWrangler is good, and free. TextEdit (which comes with the Mac) not
so good, as its default is Rich Text Format, rather than plain text;
also I forget if it will save with Unix endings. Also TextWrnagler, in
the Text Files section of the preferences has an option (it may be the
default) to use Unix line endings.

Briefly, the difference between Mac and Unix line endings used to be
that Unix used Line Feed for a new line while Mac used Carriage Return
(and, I think, Windows uses Carriage Return plus Line Feed). I have a
vague memory that recent versions of Mac OS do use Line Feed as the
default for a new line, but some older text editors still use Carriage
Reutrn.


Anyway, bottom line here is to download (Google to find it) and use
TextWrangler.

Make executable. Read and write permissions on a file can be changed by
getting information on the file, but unfortunately execute permissions
(which, in this context, means whether an alleged application can
actually be run) have to be set via the Terminal.

Terminal is an application found in the Utilities folder that provides
an interface with the Unix underpinnings of OS X.

Run terminal, and on the line that you get, type

chmod a+x

followed by a space 

In Unix you would have to follow this by typing the full name of the
file you want to make executable (full name meaning the complete path
to it, going through all relevant folders). In the Mac OS, the GUI
kicks in and you don't have to type the name, instead you can just drag
the file into the terminal window and its name gets filled in for you.

So at this point you are looking at a line which (after the initial
prompt, which looks something like computername: ~username$) reads

chmod a+x fullfilename

Just press Return and the command gets run and you are back in the
prompt (you won't actually see the action, but it will be done).

If you want to investigate and see what has happened, before doing the
chmod, type ls -l followed by a space and drag the file to the window
and press Return, and do the same again after doing the chmod.

Before it will read something like
-rw-r--r-- plus other stuff,

and after it will say something like -rwxr-xr-x plus other sutff.

If you really want to know more (and it can be worthwhile) look at
either an introductory book on Unix or a book on Mac and Unix.


-- 
danco
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