Appendix E. Installing Fink

The Fink project, hosted on SourceForge (http://fink.sourceforge.net), was created to port open-source Unix software to Mac OS X. Even though Mac OS X has a BSD layer underneath, it isn't always easy (or possible!) to port useful Unix applications. If you need something, chances are that it's already covered by Fink, which takes care of installing, compiling, and updating the software for you.

You'll need to install the Apple developer tools (a free download at www.apple.com/macosx/developertools) and the BSD subsystem (my iBook came with the BSD layer preinstalled) before you can install, configure, and use Fink.