[Gnumed-devel] Mac-specific issues (was Release 0.2.8)

[James Busser]

On 3-Jan-08, at 7:21 AM, Karsten Hilbert wrote:

> I have uploaded version 0.2.8.1 which has the following changes:
>
>         FIX: crash on setting Windows SetFocus() on dialogs in gm_show_*()
>         FIX: crash on passing identity to cDTO_Person.import_extra_data()
>         FIX: failure on PG server version checking on MacOSX (bootstrapper)
>         FIX: crash on MacOSX after clicking OK in Snellen config dialog
>         FIX: crash on missing slave personality
>         IMPROVE: do not crash on not being able to write to the config file
>         IMPROVE: touch user config file so it exists when needed

Hi all

I'd be interested to pool what we have determined so far about Mac- 
related issues. Most of this is on the wiki but I can add there  
anything that is missing.

1. The Mac OS ships with the root user "inactive". People wishing to  
only run the GNUmed bundled app client for Mac don't need root nor do  
I *think* it is needed to install packages and make them available to  
other users since all Mac "administrator" level accounts can access  
the Mac's chown-like GUI control (inside icons and folder's "Get  
info" panel). Installation of a GNUmed server however depends on at  
least sudo, and even a knowledgeable user cannot successfully run  
sudo in a Terminal (Mac bash shell) window until they enable the root  
user:
   http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1549.html

2. The Mac OS has some custom dependencies on whichever version of  
Python ships with the OS, and this Python must not be replaced or  
badly tinkered with. Methods exist to support a higher Python  
(documented on wiki).
   http://salaam.homeunix.com/bin/view/Gnumed/IssuesMac

3. Providing a double-clickable binary for Mac takes some work which  
I am grateful to Sebastian for having done. If it may be helpful to  
the project for any of the publicly-sharable notes to be forwarded I  
can put them up on the wiki.

4. Although Mac OS X identifies itself as POSIX, the GNUmed client is  
unable to pass MIME encodings to the Mac GUI except by depending on a  
mapping file not needed by other *nix ... I am suspecting the Mac  
would be more "fully" compatible if one were running inside X11 (as  
can be done when running Open Office) whereas I suspect it is the  
user-default preference to be able to run apps under Apple's own GUI  
that adds the bit of extra work.

What else has anyone (Karsten or Sebastian) figured out about  
accommodating the Mac OS? For example does the fix to the Snellen  
chart window teach us that the Mac has additional special needs in  
the coding of the client and, if so, what kinds?