EiffelOnMac

Revision as of 20:11, 11 August 2010 by Peter gummer (Talk | contribs) (Revise out-of-date information)


This page gives you an overview about how to get EiffelStudio running on your Mac.

Requirements

  • Install X11 and XCode from your OSX-Installation disk or (preferably, to ensure you have the latest development tools) by downloading Xcode from Apple's developer web site. Make sure that you install the development tools with Xcode.

Installation

Using MacPorts

The port should work on Mac OS X 10.4 and later.

MacPorts is a great tool that allows you to use many Unix applications on the Mac. We have created a package in the MacPorts repository that allows you to to install Eiffel Studio with all dependencies in a convenient way. First, install MacPorts as described here.

Now simply type: 

sudo port install eiffelstudio66

and you're ready to go (after a few hours compiling that is :)). Compiling on a 2.4 GHz Intel Mac takes about an hour. An old 800 MHz PowerPC takes about seven hours.

Older development packages are available under the name eiffelstudio65, etc. (All packages can be installed simultaneously.)

When a new release of the same version EiffelStudio becomes available, you can upgrade like so: 

sudo port selfupdate
sudo port upgrade eiffelstudio66

The installer from the previous subsection is actually created using MacPorts as well using the mpkg command. For more information take a look at the MacPorts Guide

Using binary packages

Warning.png Warning: This method does not work at the moment. Please install EiffelStudio using MacPorts.
See Discussion for more information.

  1. Install the latest version of XQuartz: download
  2. Install the EiffelStudio 6.4 Mac package: download

Starting EiffelStudio

Simply navigate to /Applications/MacPorts/Eiffel<nn> and double click the EiffelStudio icon.

Alternatively, you can also start EiffelStudio from the command line by entering the command 'estudio' or use the command-line eiffel compiler 'ec'.


FAQ

I get a crash with a Permission denied: Operating system error, how do I fix it?

Delete the .ec directory in your home directory.

I get an error with precompiles, why is that ?

Precompiles did not work on the Mac before EiffelStudio 6.4 due to a limitation of the linker. To work around this issue you have to disable the precompiles with those versions or upgrade to a recent version of EiffelStudio.

Information.png Note: When you create a project, EiffelStudio will ask if you want to perform precompiles – say no. Then disable the precompiles for this project through the Project>Project menu. In the 'Groups>Precompile' section, remove all precompiles (eg., base_pre). Select the 'base_pre' precompile and click the red cross delete tool at the top of the window.


Information.png Note: Precompiling the Eiffel libraries after installing the Port is possible, there are security policies to take into account. The Port installs EiffelStudio under the system's /Application/MacPorts directory and not the user ~/Application/MacPorts. Due of this, EiffelStudio must be run as a super user and the precompiles build using the Tools > Precompile Wizard option. Alternatively, alter the base installation path when requesting to install the Port.

How can I make EiffelStudio on the Mac look nicer?

  • Use the gtk clearlooks theme from MacPorts (packages gtk2-clearlooks and gtk-theme-switch, then run 'switch2')

Typing ec or estudio on the command line doesn't work

To run the ec compiler from your shell, set up variables similar to these (e.g. in ~/.profile): 

# Setting variables for EiffelStudio.
export ISE_EIFFEL=/Applications/MacPorts/Eiffel66
export ISE_PLATFORM=macosx-ppc (or macosx-x86)
export ISE_PROJECTS=$HOME
export ES_PATH=$ISE_EIFFEL/studio/spec/$ISE_PLATFORM/bin
export PATH=$ES_PATH:$PATH

Hints

  • Pick and Drop works with Apple-key + mouse click.
  • To set up the correct (default) browsers use "open" as your command-line browser in Tools>Preferences...
  • The F10 and F11 debugging shortcuts conflict with the standard Exposé keys. Here are some workarounds:
    • Use the toolbar instead.
    • Reassign these shortcuts in EiffelStudio (Tools>Preferences).
    • Reassign the Exposé keys in System Preferences.
  • The version of X11 installed with Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.0 and 10.5.1 does not work. The 10.5.2 and later updates are probably ok, however, but if you're having problems have a look at http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/xquartz. For more details, see http://www.eiffelroom.com/blog/paulbates/a_little_help_for_mac_users which pre-dates the release of 10.5.2.
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