{"id":2069,"date":"2016-03-13T13:41:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T12:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denbeke.be\/blog\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2016-10-16T18:47:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-16T17:47:18","slug":"getting-a-mac-ready-for-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denbeke.be\/blog\/mac\/getting-a-mac-ready-for-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting a Mac ready for development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple computers are awesome: they are fancy machines which make your daily life easier. But every developer knows that there are a lot of things to install and configure before you can actually start programming. This guide is an overview of how I configure my Mac for development. I’m sure everyone has his own habits regarding tools and configurations, but this guide should get you started!<\/p>\n

Note: I wrote this guide while configuring my Mac running El Capitan (OS X 10.11). Things might (and probably will) change for future OS X versions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Command line tools<\/h3>\n

Fish shell<\/h4>\n

Fish is “a smart and user-friendly command line shell for OS X, Linux, and the rest of the family.”<\/em> It makes your life in the terminal a lot easier: it comes with autosuggestions, man page completion, nice colours, web-based configuration, and a clean and simple scripting language.<\/p>\n

Download Fish<\/a> from their website and run the installer. After the installation you must manually set the shell as your default shell:<\/p>\n

$ chsh -s \/usr\/local\/bin\/fish<\/code><\/pre>\n
Fish functions<\/h4>\n
You can easily create your own function with Fish. To do so, you must create a file with the function name in the ~\/.config\/fish\/functions<\/code> directory.<\/p>\n
Fish prompt<\/h5>\n
The prompt is a Fish function itself, which you can fully customize. Here is the prompt I use for Fish (~\/.config\/fish\/functions\/fish_prompt.fish<\/code>):<\/p>\n
function fish_prompt --description 'Write out the prompt'\r\n\r\n    set -l last_status $status\r\n    \r\n    if not set -q __fish_prompt_normal\r\n        set -g __fish_prompt_normal (set_color normal)\r\n    end\r\n    \r\n    # PWD\r\n    set_color $fish_color_cwd\r\n    echo -n (prompt_pwd)\r\n    set_color normal\r\n    \r\n    printf '%s ' (__fish_git_prompt)\r\n    \r\n    if not test $last_status -eq 0\r\n        set_color $fish_color_error\r\n    end\r\n    \r\n    echo -n '$ '\r\n\r\nend<\/code><\/pre>\n
Opening files with Chocolat editor<\/h5>\n
I have a Fish function which opens a given folder or file with my favorite editor (Chocolat, see below). Put this function in ~\/.config\/fish\/functions\/chocolat.fish<\/code>:<\/p>\n
function chocolat\r\n    if test -z \"$argv\"\r\n        open . -a Chocolat\r\n    else\r\n        open $argv -a Chocolat\r\n    end \r\nend<\/code><\/pre>\n
sudo !!<\/code><\/h5>\n
Fish has no sudo !!<\/code> command. If you really need it, you can create your own (~\/.config\/fish\/functions\/sudo.fish<\/code>):<\/p>\n
function sudo\r\n    if test \"$argv\" = !!\r\n        eval command sudo $history[1]\r\n    else\r\n        command sudo $argv\r\n    end\r\nend<\/code><\/pre>\n
Xcode<\/h4>\n
First you need to install Xcode from the Mac App Store. Once installed, you also need the Command Line Tools<\/em>, you can initiate the download process by executing $ xcode-select --install<\/code> in the Terminal.<\/p>\n
Vim<\/h4>\n
Vim is my favorite editor in the console. No need to install it because it’s part of the command line tools. You can completely customize it: I have the following Vim config in ~\/.vimrc<\/code>:<\/p>\n
\" Vim config\r\n\r\nset number                      \"Line numbers are good\r\nset backspace=indent,eol,start  \"Allow backspace in insert mode\r\nset showcmd                     \"Show incomplete cmds down the bottom\r\nset showmode                    \"Show current mode down the bottom\r\nset gcr=a:blinkon0              \"Disable cursor blink\r\nset visualbell                  \"No sounds\r\n\r\n\" enable syntax highlighting\r\nsyntax on   \r\n\r\n\" indentation\r\nset autoindent\r\nset smartindent\r\nset smarttab\r\nset shiftwidth=4\r\nset softtabstop=4\r\nset tabstop=4\r\nset expandtab<\/code><\/pre>\n
MacPorts<\/h4>\n
MacPorts is a package manager for OS X, which is quite similar to FreeBSD Ports. Yeah, I know, some people prefer Homebrew<\/a>…<\/em>
\nDownload the MacPorts<\/a> installer from their website (make sure to download it for the correct operating system) and install MacPorts.<\/p>\n
If you are using Fish (MacPorts does it automatically if you use Bash, which is the default one on OS X), you must manually set your PATH<\/code> correctly. Add the following line to ~\/.config\/fish\/config.fish<\/code>:<\/p>\n
$ set -xg PATH \/opt\/local\/bin \/opt\/local\/sbin $PATH<\/code><\/pre>\n
After installing MacPorts it’s good practice to update MacPorts and the ports tree:<\/p>\n
$ sudo port selfupdate<\/code><\/pre>\n
Git<\/h4>\n
Git comes together with the Xcode command line tools.
\nMake sure to correctly setup your Git config, since your username and email will appear in every commit you author.<\/p>\n
$ git config --global user.name \"Some username\"\r\n$ git config --global user.email some_mail@example.com<\/code><\/pre>\n
Go<\/h4>\n
Since I’m a Go<\/a> developer, installing Go is one of the first things I do on a new Mac. Installing Go can be done very easily using MacPorts:<\/p>\n
$ sudo port install go<\/code><\/pre>\n
You must also define your Go path. More info about how the $GOPATH<\/code> should look like can be found here<\/a>.
\nUsing Fish shell, you must add it to ~\/.config\/fish\/config.fish<\/code>:<\/p>\n
set -xg GOPATH ~\/Code\/Go\/<\/code><\/pre>\n
Using Bash:<\/p>\n
$ export GOPATH=~\/Code\/Go\/<\/code><\/pre>\n
To make this permanent (for Bash) you must put the command in your .bash_profile<\/code>.<\/p>\n
Optionally you also add your Go bin folder to your $PATH<\/code>. For Fish, you must again put it in ~\/.config\/fish\/config.fish<\/code>:<\/p>\n
$ set -xg PATH $GOPATH\/bin $PATH<\/code><\/pre>\n
C++<\/h4>\n
Xcode comes with Clang compiler by default. If you need Gcc, you must install it using MacPorts:<\/p>\n
$ sudo port install gcc5<\/code><\/pre>\n
Now you need to enable the MacPorts Gcc version, so you actually use it when executing the gcc<\/code> command. (Apple linked the Gcc command to Clang…):<\/p>\n
$ port select --list gcc\r\nAvailable versions for gcc:\r\n    mp-gcc5\r\n    none (active)\r\n\r\n$ sudo port select --set gcc mp-gcc5<\/code><\/pre>\n
You can verify your installation in the Terminal: $ gcc -v<\/code><\/p>\n
Python<\/h4>\n
Python 2.7 comes bundled with the OS X command line tools. If you need a newer version of Python, you can install it using MacPorts:<\/p>\n
$ sudo port install python35<\/code><\/pre>\n
You can also install pip, an awesome tool for installing extra Python packages\/modules:<\/p>\n
$ sudo easy_install pip<\/code><\/pre>\n
MAMP (Mac OS X Apache MariaDB PHP)<\/h4>\n
Doing web development? Then you probably want to install MAMP. See this blogpost<\/a> for detailed instructions.<\/p>\n
You know Caddy<\/a>? Probably not, but it’s surely worth checking out! It’s a very easy and simple webserver which works perfectly with PHP-FPM.<\/p>\n
Other ports<\/h4>\n
Install some other useful ports you might need:<\/p>\n
$ sudo port install cmake wget pandoc mtr sl boost qt5 nodejs<\/code><\/pre>\n
Composer<\/h4>\n
Install Composer<\/a>, the PHP package manager:<\/p>\n
$ curl -sS https:\/\/getcomposer.org\/installer | php\r\n$ sudo mv composer.phar \/usr\/local\/bin\/composer<\/code><\/pre>\n
Sass<\/h4>\n
Install the Sass<\/a> tool for preprocessing CSS stylesheets:<\/p>\n
$ sudo gem install sass<\/code><\/pre>\n
LaTeX<\/h4>\n
You can download and install a complete LaTeX bundle called MacTex<\/a>. It comes with a .pkg<\/code> installer and doesn’t require any additional configuration.<\/p>\n
Software<\/h3>\n
This is a list of software I use (or just know). The tools listed here are worth checking out and are surely not new for most Mac users.<\/p>\n
Editors<\/h4>\n
There are a lot of good code editors available for Mac. My personal favorite is Chocolat. Here is an overview of some good editors for OS X:<\/p>\n
General programming:<\/p>\n