[MacTUG] Is Fink still the way to go?

[Marlon A. Griffith]

I agree with Dani. Macports is now the way to go because Fink packages are not being kept as up to date. Macports worked for me. However, I found some things confusing, i.e. how do I use installed Macports software on other user accounts on the same computer.

I have instructions for "Setting up a python programming sandbox using Macports' python on Mac OS X," https://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/twiki/bin/view/MAG/MacPortsPython. At the bottom of the page, I have extensively summarized installation instructions for macports on the mac.

There are several lesser known alternatives. I have not had a chance to play with these much:
* homebrew, http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/: you could install the packages in your non-system user and play with them there; some of the comments had security concerns when installing Homebrew's packages to usr/local/bin

* toast - packageless package manager for Unix systems and non-root users, http://www.toastball.net/toast/

* gnu Stow, https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/:
"""
GNU Stow is a symlink farm manager which takes distinct packages of software and/or data located in separate directories on the filesystem, and makes them appear to be installed in the same place. For example, /usr/local/bin could contain symlinks to files within /usr/local/stow/emacs/bin, /usr/local/stow/perl/bin etc., and likewise recursively for any other subdirectories such as .../share, .../man, and so on.

This is particularly useful for keeping track of system-wide and per-user installations of software built from source, but can also facilitate a more controlled approach to management of configuration files in the user's home directory, especially when coupled with version control systems
"""

Good luck,
Marlon