an alternative for running GnuCash on OS X

[Richard Talley]

Please note: the following assumes you're running an Intel Mac. Although
virtual machine software is available for PPC based Macs, there are fewer
choices and they run much slower.
OK, I've seen a lot of discussions on this list and elsewhere about getting
GnuCash and similar programs running on Apple computers.

Faw. What a mess.

I think it's great that people are working on getting GnuCash working on OS
X as a drag and drop application that doesn't need X11.

In the meantime, I've better things to do. Like actually putting data into
GnuCash.

I've never had any luck with MacPorts. Of course, YMMV.

Fink is great for adding command line stuff to OS X. X11 programs, not so
much.

Here's what I've done to sidestep all of this mess. We all know that GnuCash
runs great on Linux.

I downloaded Sun's Virtual Box. (There are a number of other choices, free
and commercial.) When dealing with VM software, I strongly suggest RTFM.

 I set up a virtual machine and installed the latest version of Ubuntu. I
used apt-get to install GnuCash 2.2.6.

You can use the VM software, the Linux distribution and the package manager
that you prefer. Works great. Sidesteps all the problems involved with
installing GnuCash on OS X. Instead, install it where we already know it
works well: Linux.

-- Rich