HOWTOlabs Apple OS X
Setup and basic uses

Installation and Use
  
Code Development
Legacy (Classic)
Elsewhere:

Installation and Use FAQ

Time Machine - File System Format
Most people just accept the default settings when setting up OS X, if so Time Machine should work as expected.  However, if for some reason you decide to format OS X disk using Case-sensitive (Case-insensitive is default), Time Machine then becomes very picky.  Time Machine must be used with a primary and backup disk that use the same Case-sensitibity setting.  Otherwise it will adroitly alert you that it will not work.  Even just trying to copy Time Machine files to a different disk where the Case-sensitivity is different won't work.

Legacy Systems
7500-9600 system are not officially supported by OSX. However XPostFacto does a good job of filling the gap.

Allow root access

Elsewhere

Default OS install disables access to root shell.  With 10.6.X, the System Preferences > Account panel offers a way to access controls that enable root login access.  Until 10.5.X and later, use Directory Utility after authenticating with an existing Admin enabled account.  For OS X 10.4.X and before use NetInfo Manager, menu: Domain; Security to change this.

As of at least OS X 10.3, it seems the graphical login can be used to gain root access. However, only the standard users will be displayed.  Holding Option Return, then clicking a user will present a password + username prompt (typically only password prompt is presented) - so root user and password can be entered.

Also, if root user is enabled using NetInfo Manager, the graphical login will present an Other User which will directly present username + password prompt.

File Sharing 1: Basics
Default OS install does not include an easy way to share arbitrary folders. With a little extra effort NetInfo Manager can be be used to create share configurations that work just like classic MacOS file sharing.

Lets say you have already created a /public folder (either directly via shell or by opening Desktop Hard Disk icon and creating new folder from OS menu). To enable file sharing on this folder use NetInfo Manager to view ...
/ config SharePoints
Now Select SharePoints and use Menu: Directory to create a new sub-directory. This should create a sub-directory called new_directory. Rename new_directory -> public (name of sub-directory is irrelevent - that it exists and is unique name is all that really matters). Now Select public. It probably already has a property called name. With public still selected, Menu: Directory to create a new property. Ok here the deal - every shared folder needs to have a sub-directory under / config SharePoints and two properties under the sub-directory called name and directory_path.
name public
directory_path /public
name is what remote users will see when browsing your file shares. directory_path is what will map to the share name. You may need to toggle File Sharing On using System Prefs - Sharing.
TIP: may get more reliable sharing if System Prefs - Energy Saver set to never sleep
File Sharing 2: Disabling User Shares
To disable file sharing for a user called henry, use NetInfo Manager to view / users henry.
Now rename sharedDir -> sharedDir0
sharedDir0 Public
You may need to toggle File Sharing On using System Prefs - Sharing
File Sharing 3: OS X (10.3)
With OS X 10.3 additional fields are required to enable file sharing for Apple Talk. There are freeware tools that help adjust the necessary settings. It should still be possible to set this up using only NetInfo manager - stay tuned.

Change Hosts Settings
Default OS install disables /etc/hosts and instead uses Netinfo Manager to control equivelent functionality. Use NetInfo Manager to edit / machines . Often duplicating an exiting entry then editing to suit your needs works nicely. If you need to have several hosts with same IP address, use a single entry and add additional name properties. Note: property serves ./local does not seem pertinent but it doesn't hurt either

Postfix

For scripts and other direct email generation to work, need to configurate some obscure OS X settings to specify what host to use to send email so that it reaches the Internet. Be careful, spam protection measures on many networks discourage sending email directly from a host - so your mileage may vary. 
# scutil --set HostName mini.local.zaptech.org

  ...

# scutil --get HostName

  mini.local.zaptech.org
# diff -r1.1 /etc/postfix/main.cf

  306a307
  > relayhost = smtp.sonic.net
Web Server

Hey! If you already know how to configure Apache there is nothing more you need to know about! You may need to toggle Web Sharing On using System Prefs - Sharing. Here's a diff showing the changes made to use /public as default web server directory 
$ diff httpd.orig httpd.conf

  361c361,362
  < DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents"
  ---
  > # DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents"
  > DocumentRoot "/public"
  386c387,388
  < < Directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents">
  ---
  > # <Directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents">
  > <Directory "/public">
# apachectl

  usage: /usr/sbin/apachectl (start|stop|restart|fullstatus|status|graceful|configtest|help)

  start      - start httpd
  stop       - stop httpd
  restart    - restart httpd if running by sending a SIGHUP or start if
               not running
  fullstatus - dump a full status screen; requires lynx and mod_status enabled
  status     - dump a short status screen; requires lynx and mod_status enabled
  graceful   - do a graceful restart by sending a SIGUSR1 or start if not running
  configtest - do a configuration syntax test
  help       - this screen
Allow remote login

Default OS install does not allow remote login. Also there is no telnet services, only secure shell (ssh). To enable remote login, change setting within System Preferences, Sharing


Code Development Tips [edit]

Elsewhere

Command Line CVS / RCS

Apple includes command line CVS / RCS with Xcode from Apple.  Download the latest relevent Xcode installer for your version of OS X.  Do the bare minimum install.  This will place CVS and and RCS commands typically in the /Developer/usr/bin directory.  From a shell, attempt to run cvs, if it can't be found then create/modify .profile for you login accordingly.

$ cd ~

$ cat .profile

  export PATH=$PATH:/Developer/usr/bin

Elsewhere

MacCvs

Alas, MacCvsX (based in part on the WinCvs GUI client), seems to no longer be supported natively by OS X 10.6 .  Instead a prompt to enable Roseta emulation occurs, which indicated old PowerPC code has been detected.  Still, if you don't mind running in emulation mode MacCvsX will launch but seems to be highly unstable.  Perhaps an updated MacCvsX version will surface soon that runs directly and is more stable.

MacCvs Bugs

Under certain circumstances MacCvs will do some rather preculiar things with binary files. Since most people run OS X on the 'classic' HFS file system, cvs clients have to deal with resource and data portions of files. MacCvs default is to archive files with resources into HQX format before commiting to the repository. Problem is, platforms that don't use HQX or suport HFS files systems (like Linux, and Windows) see these binary files as scrambled.

For files that actually have meaningful resource data this is a non issue since the file probably is specific to Apple platforms. However, it is very common for normal binary files (MS Word, images, ...) to collect superfluous resource information and MacCvs dutifully scrambles the file when committing it to the repository assuming that it is Apple platform specific. Bad!

Enter a special tool for OS X: File Adopter . This tool allows you to determine the magic 4 character File Type of a file under OS X. File types can be entered into MacCvs binary preferences. For each file type entered it can be further configured to perform plain data uploads instead of HQX scrambling the file during commit. Yes!

Typical ...
W8BN MS Word Plain binary
WDBN MS Word Plain binary