Installing GnuCash on Mac without X11 (using MacPorts)

[Frank Marion]

Thank you, that was very informative, I've learned something.

Imagine that you are a brand new Mac user who has never used terminal,  
or shell, and who simply wants to install GnuCash on his laptop. You  
see that GnuCash announces itself as cross-platform. Yay! Data  
security AND portability, PLUS, it's the reason you chose it first  
hand when you were using a PC, so that you could always have your  
data, no matter what computer you used.

So, you go looking for "the program".

But there isn't one. But it says that it's cross-platform, you decide  
that you WANT the data that you've created on your PC on your new Mac.  
So you dig deeper.

And you discover something like this: GnuCash doesn't actually exist  
as a program, only code. You're not a power user, you've been using  
the Mac for less than a week. But the Mac is s'pposed to be simple,  
and since it's cross platform, it should be easy-and-mac-like to  
install. You learn that

1) You have to use something called Fink or MacPort. You have no idea  
what that means

2) You bop around a bunch of dry sites talking a language that reads  
like Klingon cursing

3) You don't know why you should use Fink or MacPorts, 'cause each  
makes different promises.

4) You learn that you need to have developer tools, and/or that you  
must be able to use unix

5) That you need to use unix to create one tool so that it can make  
another tool so that you can create an installer (or is it the  
program?--or is it another tool again?) and boy, this is starting to  
get intense!

6) You grab the first one, and try to follow it step by step, but the  
guide assumes that you have basic unix knowledge, like knowing that  
you have to use this or that account and have to switch among them  
using unix commands that could potentially destroy your machine and  
the universe at large.

7) When that doesn't work ('cause you don't know what you don't know)  
you feel stupid and frustrated. So you do more research that either  
leads you back to the original documentation, or sites that delve into  
the mental realm of these mythical creatures known as coders who speak  
in unintelligible languages and concepts.

8) Bewildered and stunned at the complexity of installing an  
accounting program, you start to doubt your choice and just mark it  
off as not-cross platform.

Heck, I was hoping I could just 2click the installer (or drag it to a  
folder) and get busy working.

Perhaps my description is technically incorrect, but you get the sense  
of how some Mac users will perceive this: far too complex, arcane and  
intimidating. GnuCash is an easy install for Windows users. 2 click  
the installer and you're done. It's not for non-power Mac user. That  
means "The point and click crowd". My mother, who can barely  
understand Windows, would *never* be able to install GnuCash if she  
were to ever switch to a Mac.

Perhaps Mac users are not a target audience. I can understand that.  
The developers have limited time, and personal preferences and prefer  
to code rather than to hand hold new users. Perfectly understandable  
and your work is totally appreciated, nonetheless.

I'm not clear on why a dim-bulb binary version, or a complete  
installation guide/tutorial of some sort is not made prominently  
available on the site.

I guess part of the reason that I'm invested in this is because I  
value the contribution that GnuCash brings to the table. A good, free  
reliable open-source accounting program is long over-due in the land  
where lumbering, uncaring corporations basically extort their  
customers. GnuCash is an act of decency. I just wish it were easier to  
install.

So yeah: That was a rant--but a well intended one :)


On 2009-01-02, at 1:15 PM, Richard Talley wrote:
> Actually that's not true. To illustrate, let's assume you have an OS X
> machine with a user account foo, an admin account bar, a bash prompt
> configured to show the user name, and you are logged in as foo. When
> you open the Terminal just switch to the admin account thusly:

[...]

> I find this trick useful as some tasks, such as editing plist files,
> are easier to do using the GUI tools. Or you may simply prefer to use
> a GUI editor rather than vi or pico for editing makefiles, etc.
>
> -- Rich
>
> On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Frank Marion <lists at frankmarion.com>  
> wrote:
>> An important bit to add:
>> The following must be done from an account with administrative
>> permissions. As a new user to OS X, I did not recognize the  
>> difference
>> between "root" and and "administrator's account". Without admin
>> abilities, you cannot sudo, and thus none of this will work. So long
>> onto your admin account first.
>>
>>
>> On 2009-01-01, at 4:47 AM, Charles Day wrote:
>>
>>> There have been a few questions recently about how to install
>>> GnuCash on a
>>> Mac, and I just thought I'd show the steps that I used to get it
>>> installed
>>> on mine (MacBook Pro, 10.5.6) in native form (no X11).
>>> I used MacPorts, and here were the steps I took, with a few short
>>> notes.  If
>>> these don't work for you, however, I may not be much help as I'm a
>>> newbie
>>> when it comes to MacPorts.
>>>
>>> # Use the latest MacPorts (1.7) so you can install GnuCash 2.2.8
>>> sudo port selfupdate
>>> # Some of the following bombed out on python stuff
>>> # Just rerun command (sometimes more than once) to proceed
>>> sudo port install dbus +no_x11
>>> sudo port install cairo +no_x11
>>> sudo port install pango +no_x11
>>> sudo port install gtk2 +no_x11
>>> sudo port edit aqbanking
>>> # Replace the line
>>> #   --with-frontends="cbanking g2banking qbanking"
>>> # with
>>> #   --with-frontends="g2banking"
>>> sudo port install gnucash +no_x11
>>> # Finally, you may need to insert the following line into
>>> your .profile:
>>> eval `dbus-launch --auto-syntax`

--
Frank Marion
lists [_at_] frankmarion.com