Clever::Tagline::Pending

I came across SSHFS in an article by Paul Gross and thought of trying it out. Unfortunately, I had to take a slightly more complicated route to have it installed with MacPorts on my laptop.

Running

sudo port install sshfs

caused this particular error to appear:

--->  Building fusefs

Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command "cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs" && xcodebuild  -target "fusefs" -configuration Release build OBJROOT=build/ SYMROOT=build/ OBJROOT=build/ SYMROOT=build/" returned error 1

Command output: === BUILDING NATIVE TARGET fusefs WITH CONFIGURATION Release ===Checking Dependencies...

Cpp build/Release/fusefs.kext/Contents/Info.plist build/fusefs.build/Release/fusefs.build/Info.plist

    cd /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs

    /usr/bin/gcc -E -P -x c -Wno-trigraphs /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs/build/fusefs.build/Release/fusefs.build/Info.plist -o /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs/build/Release/fusefs.kext/Contents/Info.plist

/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs/build/fusefs.build/Release/fusefs.build/Info.plist:1:33: error: common/fuse_version.h: No such file or directory

/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs/build/fusefs.build/Release/fusefs.build/Info.plist:2:31: error: common/fuse_param.h: No such file or directory

** BUILD FAILED **

Error: The following dependencies failed to build: fusefs libfuse

Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.

A quick spot of googling found the answer to this pretty quickly. Hans-Göran (comment #24) mentioned that he managed to install fusefs after copying the files that the error was complaining were missing.

At first glance, it seems that the file in question (common/fuse_param.h) is indeed present in the build directory. It appears that the error is being triggered from the property list file for the build.

/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs/build/fusefs.build/Release/fusefs.build/Info.plist

Taking a look at its contents reveals that it’s including 2 header files from its containing directory

#include "common/fuse_version.h"

#include "common/fuse_param.h"

So I copied over the missing directory and re-ran the sshfs install.

cd /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_fuse_fusefs/work/fusefs

sudo cp -r common build/fusefs.build/Release/fusefs.build/

sudo port install sshfs
--->  Fetching libfuse
--->  Attempting to fetch fuse-2.6.5-macosx.patch from http://macfuse.googlecode.com/svn/tags/macfuse-0.4.0/libfuse/
--->  Attempting to fetch fuse-2.6.5.tar.gz from http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fuse
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for libfuse
--->  Extracting libfuse
--->  Applying patches to libfuse
--->  Configuring libfuse
--->  Building libfuse with target all
--->  Staging libfuse into destroot
--->  Installing libfuse 2.6.5_1
--->  Activating libfuse 2.6.5_1
--->  Cleaning libfuse
--->  Fetching sshfs
--->  Attempting to fetch sshfs-fuse-1.7-macosx.patch from http://macfuse.googlecode.com/svn/tags/macfuse-0.4.0/filesystems/sshfs
--->  Attempting to fetch sshfs-fuse-1.7.tar.gz from http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fuse
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for sshfs
--->  Extracting sshfs
--->  Applying patches to sshfs
--->  Configuring sshfs
--->  Building sshfs with target all
--->  Staging sshfs into destroot
--->  Installing sshfs 1.7_5
--->  Activating sshfs 1.7_5
--->  Cleaning sshfs

Now sshfs is installed!

I finally bit the bullet and got my own shiny new copy of Parallels for Mac. It helped that I got an email from the company containing a link to purchase the software at a discounted rate.

So I’ve been putting it through its paces for the past few weeks and its been great! No more having to do website compatibility checking for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 on different PCs. I just need to fire up Parallels and boot up the Windows XP images with the browser installed. You do need to have at least 2 GB ram in order to have both the VM and OSX running smoothly.

In the sneak preview for OS X Leopard, Apple unveiled a backup system called Time Machine. Going from the preview, it’s shaping up to be another exemplar product from the Cupertino giant. Interacting with Time Machine is intuitive and integration with Finder means that users will not have to relearn another set of skills or terminology.

Software developers who make use of version control systems(if you are develop software and DO NOT have VCS for your projects, starting using it NOW.) would find how Time Machine performs its backups vaguely familiar. Backups are performed incrementally and built on top of the previous revision. This usually saves disk space as only the parts that changed between revisions are stored.
Users simply fire up Time Machine from Finder and use a stylish 3D interface to browse their system backups using time as a familiar metaphor. Once they find what what they want, select the files or folders to restore, and voila! Your content is resurrected from the past.
Brilliant.

I finally gave in to the urge and splurged on a MacBook Pro. I have to say, typing this post on it is sweeeeet indeed.

Although purchasing an Intel Mac laptop was an eventuality, the timeline got pushed forward with my desktop box dying on me (more specifically, the graphics card). I figured, what the hey, I’ll just replace the desktop all together. It was also quite fortunate that EpiCentre@Orchard was having a promotion on the MBP. The S$4288 model was going for S$3488, that just sealed the deal for me.

Next will be the setting up of NAS for the hard disks in the desktop for all those media files.

With Apple’s release of Boot Camp for the IntelMacs, they have given official support for installing Windows on their machines. While it is cool that people will not have to resort to hacking their Macs to dual boot with Windows and OSX, I think a more preferable route is virtualization. Which co-incidentally, Core Duo processors support natively. Parallels Workstation(currently in beta) seems to fill this void quite nicely, claiming near native performance for the hypervisor based technology.

Apple has also announced that although it supports dual booting systems on its Intel Macs, the company does not plan on releasing any virtualisation products. Which leaves the market open for vendors like VMWare and Parallels to provide their own virtualisation products.