“mysql_config not found” installing MySQL-python with MacPorts

 3 Responses »
Oct 152013
 

UPDATE 2013-10-16: Macports now has a mysql_select package that cleanly solves this problem. Run the following and then pip will be able to find mysql_config without issue.

sudo port install mysql_select
sudo port select mysql mysql56

Using pip to install MySQL-python (aka MySQLdb) gives the error “EnvironmentError: mysql_config not found” when run on a system where MySQL has been installed via MacPorts. The solution is to tell the installer where mysql_config can be found by appending “mysql_config = /opt/local/bin/mysql_config5” to site.cfg. Assuming use of virtualenvwrapper (highly recommended!):

pip install --no-install MySQL-python
... ignore errors ...
VENV=$(dirname $(dirname $(which python))); echo "mysql_config = /opt/local/bin/mysql_config5" >> $VENV/build/MySQL-python/site.cfg
pip install --no-download MySQL-python

GNU find on OS X

 No Responses »
Aug 092013
 

The GNU version of find has some nice features (like -readable). You can install it with MacPorts using sudo port install findutils. However, this installs it as gfind. There are some references on the web to using the +with_default_names variant to avoid this, but a quick check of port variants findutils reveals that there is no such variant. This is intentional. The new approach is that /opt/local/libexec/gnubin/ contains symlinks with the native names. So add this directory to your path as well and you’re all set.

For more GNU goodness, check out the md5sha1sum package (for md5sum) as well as coreutils.

Setting default package versions with MacPorts

 1 Response »
Aug 092012
 

Given a working Perl 5.12 install (via MacPorts), doing a sudo port install perl5.16 does not update the perl symlink:

% ls -alF /opt/local/bin/perl
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 8 Jun 6 15:19 /opt/local/bin/perl@ -> perl5.12

The magic incantation is to install a the perl5_16 variant of the perl5 package:

sudo port install perl5 +perl5_16

With this done, the symlink is updated and perl loads the expected version.

% ls -alF /opt/local/bin/perl                                                                                                    
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin  8 Aug  9 12:45 /opt/local/bin/perl@ -> perl5.16
% perl -v
This is perl 5, version 16, subversion 0 (v5.16.0) built for darwin-thread-multi-2level

VNC to OS X Lion: Gratuitous Passwords and Empty Grey Linen Desktops

 3 Responses »
Mar 282012
 

There are two tricks to using VNC from a non Mac to connect to a Mac running OS X Lion.

  1. Turn on the VNC server by enabling System Preferences -> Sharing ->  Screen Sharing. Even though it provides little security, a VNC password must be set so that OS X will present an authentication scheme that makes sense to a standard VNC client. Enable “VNC viewers may control screen with password”
  2. After connecting, you will see a grey linen-backgrounded desktop with nothing in it. Type your user name and password. After logging in, your desktop contents will display!

Fixing key-repeat in OS X Lion (and restoring sanity for Vim keybindings) on a per-application basis

 2 Responses »
Mar 022012
 

Starting with OS X Lion, holding down a key will bring up a menu of alternate characters rather than repeating the key. (This is a feature). There are many tips on how to re-enable key-repeat globally. But you can also control the behavior per-application (thanks, Egor Ushakov). This is handy for e.g. IntelliJ or RubyMine, or any other app that provides Vim-style keyboard bindings. The magic commands are:

% defaults write com.jetbrains.intellij ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
% defaults write com.jetbrains.rubymine ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

But how do you figure out what the magic identifier for your application is? Simple: defaults domains will list them all:

defaults domains | gsed -e 's/, /\n/g' | grep jetbrains
com.jetbrains.intellij
com.jetbrains.intellij.ce
com.jetbrains.rubymine
jetbrains.communicator.core

Note that in order to munge the commas into newlines for grep, gsed was required because OS X default sed cannot (easily) insert newlines.