

Ask HN: How to get comfortable on the OS X command line? - shortlived

I'm very comfortable on the command line on debian-based distros but when ever I get on the terminal in OS X, things are just not in the right place or I'm not able to do what I want.<p>Is this because I'm not familiar with BSD Unix or has Apple moved things around?<p>What are the best resources for learning the OS X flavor of Unix, coming from the perspective of having good Linux knowledge?<p>Edit: 
The motivation behind these questions is that I need to decide what my next dev machine will be: some pc laptop with linux or a macbook with darwin. Either way, I need a workable command line as I spend probably 50% of my time there.
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Terretta
I have the exact opposite sense of discomfort. I started with System V and BSD
4.3 around the same time, then Solaris and FreeBSD, then OS X. Throughout
this, Linux always felt "out in left field". If you look at the UNIX family
tree, you'll see why each makes the other feel a little disconnected:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unix_history-simple.svg>

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shortlived
So in your opinion OS X is _pretty close_ to BSD? What stuff did they change?

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Terretta
My comment and link shows Linux is not shared heritage UNIX, it's its own
line, not a branch on the tree. I wasn't talking about BSD 4.3 versus OS X.

But if your comment is sincere:

[http://www.bsdatwork.com/2004/08/11/differentiating_among_bs...](http://www.bsdatwork.com/2004/08/11/differentiating_among_bsd_distros/)

As for the OP, this is a nice "BSD for Linux Users" piece:

"BSD is what you get when a bunch of Unix hackers sit down to try to port a
Unix system to the PC. Linux is what you get when a bunch of PC hackers sit
down and try to write a Unix system for the PC."

<http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/02>

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argv_empty
What things are you looking for that aren't where you expect them to be? And
where did you expect them to be?

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shortlived
Those are great questions which I don't have exact answers for because I've
spent the last year exclusively on Linux and all the exact OS X problems are
flushed from my brain.

I think I was working with Apache at the time, so I probably had trouble
starting and stopping (looking in non-existent /etc/init.d). Also, just
browsing '/', I remember stumbling upon /sw which is perhaps a darwin thing?
Is it like /opt?

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spicyj
/sw is somewhat like /opt, it's usually used by the package management system
Fink. You shouldn't need to manipulate any of the files directly.

<http://www.finkproject.org/>

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argv_empty
That would explain why I couldn't find it on my machine. I use macports, which
puts its stuff in /opt.

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spooneybarger
Partially because there is some BSD to it. A lot because apple has moved
things around. I found it really weird at first. I just had learn the basics
and then time made it simpler.

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shortlived
Did you ever find that Apple crippled certain programs or services, or simply
just move things around?

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spooneybarger
moved around? yes. crippled? nothing that i came across.

why? have you found things that seem crippled?

