Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Book excerpt: Following the common-sense O'Reilly style, Mac OS X in a Nutshell ruts through the hype and gives readers practical details they can use every day. Everything you need to know about Mac OS X has been systematically documented in this book. Mac OS X in a Nutshell offers a complete overview of Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), from its Aqua interface right down to its BSD Unix core. This book familiarizes readers with the Finder and the Dock, System Preferences, file management, system and network administration issues, and more. Later chapters include coverage of the Terminal and how to configure a DAMP (Darwin, Apache, MySQL, Pert/PHP/Python) web-publishing system. In Mac OS X in a Nutshell, you'll find : • Detailed information on virtually every command and utility available on Mac OS X Jaguar • The most complete and thorough coverage of Mac OS X's Unix commands you'll find anywhere • Detailed advice and documentation on system configuration, with extensive coverage of the System Preferences and use of the Finder and Dock • An overview of basic system and network administration features, including coverage of NetInfo and Directory Services • Hundreds of tips, tricks, and clever ways to do familiar and not-so-familiar tasks • Instructions on installing the X Window System and how to build and run BSD Unix applications • An overview of Mac OS X's Unix text editors, including vi and Emacs • An overview of CVS, the concurrent version system • Information on shell syntax and variables for Mac OS X's default user shell, tcsh Each command and option in the book's Unix Command Reference has been painstakingly tested and checked against Jaguar-even the manpages that ship with Mac OS X can't compete in accuracy. Mac OS X in a Nutshell is the most comprehensive quick reference on the market and is a must for any serious Mac user.