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New command line tools in Mountain Lion manage encryption, sleep and sharing
For fans of the Terminal, Mountain Lion brought some new command-line utilities. Perhaps the most notable is fdesetup, which Apple explains briefly: "fdesetup allows third-party management tools to enable FileVault, determine encryption status, capture and manage recovery keys, and add users to a FileVault-encrypted system as well as synchronize directory-based user authentication credentials with the local credentials for FileVault access." Apple provides a 'man' page for fdsetup, but if you want more information about it, Rich Trouton at Der Flounder has a very thorough walk-through with a bunch of screenshots and excellent explanations. I'm definitely keeping this one in Pinboard for the inevitable day when I want or need to use fdsetup. I'm also glad to have a more low-level tool for working with FileVault. I had written previously about the "hoops" which were necessary to disable certain users from being able to unlock the computer with FileVault. That process is now a lot easier. But wait, there's more! Patrix over at the Ask Different blog discovered several other new command-line utilities. Some of them are generic Unix utilities (pgrep and pkill) but there are also some OS X specific ones, including: caffeinate – prevent the system from sleeping on behalf of a utility serverinfo – determine server status (is this OS X Server, and, if so, are these things enabled) sharing – create share points for AFP, FTP and SMB services tccutil – manage the privacy database See the original article for more details. Of these, caffeinate seems like the most interesting. I have used Caffeine, the free app from Lighthead Software, to keep my Mac awake at times, but being able to do it in shell scripts could definitely come in handy. Still missing your favorite Unix utility? If Mountain Lion still doesn't have your favorite utility, don't forget you have other options. I have used Rudix when I wanted precompiled binaries, and Homebrew when I want to make my own. Mostly these days I stick with Homebrew, which is regularly updated by a bunch of people, versus Rudix which has a smaller library and seems to be mostly the labor of love of one developer. Others may prefer Fink or MacPorts; I have used both in the past but haven't kept up with them recently. Both of them appear to have been updated for Mountain Lion.
Homebrew, the perfect gift for command line lovers
If you're an OS X user who spends as much time on the command line as you do in the GUI, you're probably familiar with the MacPorts and Fink package management projects, making open source software easier to compile and run on Mac OS X. You may also be well-aware of the shortcomings of these projects when it comes to future-proof package management. A new, open source project called Homebrew may be exactly what you've been looking for. If you're not a lover of all things CLI, send a link to Homebrew as a great (free) last-minute gift for the Terminal-lover in your life. My favorite thing about Homebrew is its ability to function perfectly well with /usr/local as its base directory, installing packages in their own folders but linking them to /usr/local/command. This makes them manageable with existing command line tools. Homebrew can work out of any directory you like, if /usr/local isn't your cup of tea. Installed packages are optimized and stripped based on your architecture, and makes great use of libraries you already have installed or that came with the system, reducing duplication and speeding up download, compile and install times significantly. Add in the zero-config installation, an already-extensive list of "formulas" (packages), a greatly-reduced need to sudo anything, and a Ruby-based framework for creating your own formulae and you've got a killer package for extending your command line toolset. Homebrew is available for free on GitHub, and the main page has complete instructions for various types of installation (and reasons why you'd pick each one). Check it out, and have a merry CLI-mas!
Porticus GUI for MacPorts
Porticus is a GUI for MacPorts, the open source command-line utility for installing command-line, X11 and Aqua software. Akin in many ways to PortAuthority, Porticus also provides Growl support, Sparkle updates, and an AppleScript library. It's snappy and light weight, and it's free. Porticus allows description searches, auto-detection of outdated ports, MacPorts self-update, and port variant handling with variant selection before installing. If you've got MacPorts working on the command line, MacPorts provides a smooth way to handle finding and installing new ports. If you've shied away from the price of shareware MacPorts GUIs but are still craving a little Cocoa in your open source installations, give Porticus a try. Porticus requires an existing MacPorts install (1.4.x or greater), which can be downloaded from The MacPorts Project.
