I am attempting to learn techniques for installing x11 ports, and
chose several small, relatively simple ones to try. One of them
(xspringies, I think) included a portfile with instructions on how to
proceed. One of those instructions included using:
"su -"
at the prompt.
When I did that, I was surprised when I was prompted for a password.
What was more
surprising is that my password for logging into OSX was not the right
one it wanted.
This isn't surprising. In the UNIX world "su" tries to make you become
"root". In order to become root, you need to know root's password. root
is disabled by default on OS X. Don't enable it! There are many other
ways to become root. You can simply type "sudo su -", "sudo su", "sudo
<shellname>" or several other variants, and you will become root at the
command line. Also, prefixing a command with sudo runs it as if it were
root. sudo will prompt for your normal administrative password.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Is there a recommended path for learning the ropes for installing
ports?
Well, I'd just use Fink, linked above. But if you want to learn how to
"install ports", this isn't really so much of an X11 thing or even an
OS X thing: this is just learning how to compile/install software
generally on a UNIX OS. Try by doing, asking, googling...is the best
advice I can give. Or use Fink.
(iBook, OSX 10.2.8, X11 Beta 3)
I hope you're planning on upgrading to Tiger (10.4) when it comes out,
or at least upgrading to Panther (10.3.x) at some point. There have
been MAJOR improvements to the OS in terms of featureset, X11,
developer tools, performance, etc., including performance gains you'd
even feel on an iBook.
- Dave
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