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I commend the RethinkDB folks for supporting Mac OS X explicitly. However, the .pkg installer, while handy for folks that prefer that installation method, insta

I commend the RethinkDB folks for supporting Mac OS X explicitly. However, the .pkg installer, while handy for folks that prefer that installation method, installs to /usr/bin/ and /usr/share/ -- areas that are traditionally reserved for system tools provided by Apple. Sure, the DMG also contains an uninstall-rethinkdb.sh script, but I'm still left quite unwilling to kick the RethinkDB tires on my primary Mac workstation. A better method, in my opinion, would be for the RethinkDB devs to contribute a Homebrew formula. That way everything would be installed into /usr/local/ by default, and updates would be a quick "brew upgrade rethinkdb" away. Am I the only one who would prefer that? UPDATE: It seems they had originally planned on a Homebrew formula but thought the .pkg format was better. Clearly, I disagree with that. Want to offer both? Awesome. But if you're going to pick one or the other, I think Homebrew is the vastly superior method. More here: https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/5 https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/5

coffeemug 14y ago
The reason we did that is because /usr/local/bin isn't on the default path on many OS X systems, and we didn't want the installer to modify the user's PATH. The thing about Homebrew is that it's great once you have it, but the user experience of actually installing it can be quite a pain, and we didn't want users who don't have it to have to go through the trouble. That being said, I still think it would be great to contribute a Homebrew formula.
- SnowLprd 14y ago
  Regarding the first point, which OS X systems are you referring to? The default PATH on Mountain Lion definitely contains /usr/local/bin, as you can see here: /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin With respect, I don't share the view that installing Homebrew is a pain. Even the most inexperienced would-be developer can follow the very simple guide I (very coincidentally) posted yesterday: http://hackercodex.com/guide/mac-osx-mountain-lion-10.8-configuration/ http://hackercodex.com/guide/mac-osx-mountain-lion-10.8-conf... But it seems you guys are amenable to offering both the .pkg installer and a Homebrew formula, which would be great. :^)
  - film42 14y ago
    Maybe I'm out of line here, but if you're going to be developing with RethinkDB you can probably figure out how to install Homebrew.
- mscarborough 14y ago
  Are you folks open to that? I'd be happy to do a pull request that does paths for homebrew and ports, so that either OS X party can be OK with it.
  - coffeemug 14y ago
    Definitely, would love those. We also had a few other people offerring to contribute a brew formula, so this'll likely happen in the next few days. FYI, we just wanted to give people a one-click install on a clean OS X setup. We have no objects to supporting package managers, and were going to do that eventually (but hey, it's much easier for the issue list to grow than to shrink :)).
  - jdoliner 14y ago
    We're always very happy to receive community contributions. There may even be something in it for you... such as a USB drive. (You didn't hear about these drives from me though.)
- ra 14y ago
  I'm currently running rethinkdb via vagrant, and it's actually pretty great. Personally I wouldn't install the pkg for the reasons stated by SnowLprd, but I definitely would switch to a homebrewed formula if it was available. Great work on getting OSX support out so quickly!
- patrickg 14y ago
  When installing via .pkg, you can place a file in /etc/paths.d that adds to the path. For example, when you install in /usr/local/rethink/, you just add a file (e.g. /etc/paths.d/rethink) with one line: /usr/local/rethink/bin. Thats it, very easy.
  - coffeemug 14y ago
    Ah cool, thanks. Will do.
    - sandstrom 14y ago
      Would you like to leave a comment here if you update the package to install into /usr/local, I'd also prefer to use that directory. Congrats on the new release! You are definitely doing a great job making developers love RethinkDB, feels like you already generated loads of interest.
      - coffeemug 14y ago
        I added an issue for this -- https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/171 https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/171 I'll try to comment here as well when this is done!
  - mscarborough 14y ago
    You have a cleaner solution than my pull request hack. Thanks!
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
emp_ 14y ago
I for one am extremely happy for, on my new mac mini, being able to run sublime text 2, nodejs and npm (pkg), postgres (app) and the heroku toolbelt (pkg) without installing XCode.

coffeemug 14y ago

The reason we did that is because /usr/local/bin isn't on the default path on many OS X systems, and we didn't want the installer to modify the user's PATH. The thing about Homebrew is that it's great once you have it, but the user experience of actually installing it can be quite a pain, and we didn't want users who don't have it to have to go through the trouble. That being said, I still think it would be great to contribute a Homebrew formula.

SnowLprd 14y ago
Regarding the first point, which OS X systems are you referring to? The default PATH on Mountain Lion definitely contains /usr/local/bin, as you can see here: /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin With respect, I don't share the view that installing Homebrew is a pain. Even the most inexperienced would-be developer can follow the very simple guide I (very coincidentally) posted yesterday: http://hackercodex.com/guide/mac-osx-mountain-lion-10.8-configuration/ http://hackercodex.com/guide/mac-osx-mountain-lion-10.8-conf... But it seems you guys are amenable to offering both the .pkg installer and a Homebrew formula, which would be great. :^)
- film42 14y ago
  Maybe I'm out of line here, but if you're going to be developing with RethinkDB you can probably figure out how to install Homebrew.
mscarborough 14y ago
Are you folks open to that? I'd be happy to do a pull request that does paths for homebrew and ports, so that either OS X party can be OK with it.
- coffeemug 14y ago
  Definitely, would love those. We also had a few other people offerring to contribute a brew formula, so this'll likely happen in the next few days. FYI, we just wanted to give people a one-click install on a clean OS X setup. We have no objects to supporting package managers, and were going to do that eventually (but hey, it's much easier for the issue list to grow than to shrink :)).
- jdoliner 14y ago
  We're always very happy to receive community contributions. There may even be something in it for you... such as a USB drive. (You didn't hear about these drives from me though.)
ra 14y ago
I'm currently running rethinkdb via vagrant, and it's actually pretty great. Personally I wouldn't install the pkg for the reasons stated by SnowLprd, but I definitely would switch to a homebrewed formula if it was available. Great work on getting OSX support out so quickly!
patrickg 14y ago
When installing via .pkg, you can place a file in /etc/paths.d that adds to the path. For example, when you install in /usr/local/rethink/, you just add a file (e.g. /etc/paths.d/rethink) with one line: /usr/local/rethink/bin. Thats it, very easy.
- coffeemug 14y ago
  Ah cool, thanks. Will do.
  - sandstrom 14y ago
    Would you like to leave a comment here if you update the package to install into /usr/local, I'd also prefer to use that directory. Congrats on the new release! You are definitely doing a great job making developers love RethinkDB, feels like you already generated loads of interest.
    - coffeemug 14y ago
      I added an issue for this -- https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/171 https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/171 I'll try to comment here as well when this is done!
- mscarborough 14y ago
  You have a cleaner solution than my pull request hack. Thanks!

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

emp_ 14y ago

I for one am extremely happy for, on my new mac mini, being able to run sublime text 2, nodejs and npm (pkg), postgres (app) and the heroku toolbelt (pkg) without installing XCode.