[chuck-users] Question re: installing ChucK on Mac

[Hans Aberg]

On 7 Aug 2010, at 10:27, Kassen wrote:

> However that's A) rare and B) not a issue with the terminal as such.
>
> No, it is 'sudo'...
>
> Ok.

Sorry, it was a rhetorical agreement, same as "yes". Ambiguous, like  
in this video:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JrIYR8jArk

> However, sudo is a tool to protect the installation against  
> unauthorised modifications.

Actually, not: it is just a shortcut to become root; try 'sudo -s'.  
Though restrictions can be implemented, that is not so in Mac OS X. In  
addition, when one does a 'sudo', it is valid for a few minutes, which  
can be exploited by malware, by trying every minute if the user has  
enabled root permissions.

> Wherever this directory is; its normal that all executables are kept  
> in a certain directory and that sudo is needed to mark a file as  
> executable and place it there. Sudo isn't -imho- the right tool to  
> either protect the hardware against damage or support personnel from  
> tricky questions.

On the other hand, whenever you install something on Mac OS X, and is  
asked for the password, one is in effect doing the same thing as a  
'sudo', becoming root. So one should never do that unless one trust  
the software.

> If we look here; http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/core-foundation.html
>
> We read;
> UNIX power users will feel at home in Darwin, the robust BSD  
> environment ...

FYI: Though it derives from FreeBSD, it is now certified UNIX (Intel  
1.5 and later).

> ...that underlies Mac OS X and is accessible from the Terminal  
> application. All of the common UNIX utilities, command shells, and  
> scripting languages are included in Mac OS X, including Perl, PHP,  
> tcl, Ruby, and Python. And Mac OS X provides a set of optimized  
> libraries, making it easy to port your existing UNIX code.

> To me that sounds at odds with claiming that Edward here can't  
> install ChucK without voiding his warranty.

I think there was a confusion in the communications, since he went and  
asked them in the first place. :-)

> Yes; sudo could damage stuff, but then so can cars, claw-hammers and  
> kitchen-knives. That doesn't meant we should abstain from driving,  
> carpentry and cooking.

Yes, I was independently think about the kitchen-knife analogy. And as  
noted above, people in effect do a 'sudo' whenever they install  
something requiring a password. This includes frequent system updates.

> Instead I'd suggest that Edward either stick to the installation  
> instructions or look into one of the many books or online tutorials  
> about the bash terminal; there are even quite a few aimed  
> specifically about bash in a OSX context.

I suspect he has absolutely no knowledge about the console (Terminal).  
Therefore, to start with it, it might be safest to put it into ~/bin/.

It is good with this discussion - ChucK with strange downloading  
comments, is directed to the console-savvy user, in effect shutting  
others out.