Installing Eclipse with PHP and C

I decided to install Eclipse today to use as my primary development kit. I've used vi, gEdit, jExt (I really like jExt!) but life might be simpler with an IDE.

So I will try Eclipse with the C development and maybe PHP development environements and see how it works out.

Installed DarwinPorts, sqlite, swish-e, and all other required libraries

OK - I finally managed to get DarwinPorts installed on AirTrain (the iMac). I couldn't get it installed under OS X 10.2 - it complained that TCL was built without threading enabled.

Now that I have OS X 10.4 and the Xcode tools, DarwinPorts installed without a hitch from source.

I am now able to successfully build all the other required libraries that I need to get 7DS running on the Mac, including:
- sqlite3
- swish-e
- libconfuse

(and maybe some more? I forget.)

Upgraded AirTrain iMac to Mac OS 10.4

I upgraded AirTrain (the IRT lab iMac) from 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.4. Surprisingly, the install DVD had an upgrade option - so I didn't have to format the disk at all! So much for my warnings to my colleagues to backup all the stuff they needed...

Porting 7DS from Unix to Mac OS and Windows

Right now, I'm involved in porting the 7DS system from the Linux system to run on Windows and the Mac OS X. It is really fun (!) though it might take a while to complete...

For Windows, I am currently trying Cygwin. I heard that it uses a compatibility layer and a cygwin.dll file though - meaning that Cygwin will have to be installed. I have heard about MinGW and will see if that avoids this issue.

For the Mac OS X, I first heard that we might need to install the XCode development tools, but now it looks like it is not necesssary. The Mac OS X 10.2 system I am working with already has the GCC environment, and except for dynamic library handling, it seems to compile most apps. Dynamic library loading is a problem though: I even installed dlcompat from Fink, but it still has problems! Fink, btw, is a build environment for Darwin that promises to make it easier for people to port open source apps to Mac OS.