Installing Kitlist on Mac OS X

Overview

Kitlist can be installed using a MacPorts portfile or compiled and installed from source code. Once you have installed MacPorts you should only need to execute the following command to install Kitlist:

    $ sudo port install kitlist

The MacPorts method is the most straight-forward, but a portfile for the latest version may not be currently available. The remainder of this document describes how to manually compile and install Kitlist from source code.

Another alternative is to create a portfile for the specific release and set up a local portfile repository containing the portfile.  This is described in the MacPorts Guide.

For instructions on installing MacPorts, see Installing MacPorts.

Installing Required Libraries

To install Kitlist on Mac OS X you must have the following libraries installed:

  1. gtkmm 2.4
  2. libxml++ 2.6
  3. libglademm 2.4
  4. intltool

To install the libraries using MacPorts, enter the following command:

    $ sudo port install gtkmm libxmlxx2 libglademm

This will download all source code and their dependent packages, compiling and installing each package in turn.  This is likely to take many hours.  On an iBook G4 it took about 8 or 9 hours.

Once this process has finished successfully, you can install [Kitlist].

Note: libglademm can be built from source with:

CXXFLAGS='-std=c++11' ./configure --prefix=/opt/local

-- Frank Dean - 29 Mar 2018

Installing Kitlist from Source

  1. Download the latest version of Kitlist from the Kitlist Source Download Directory, e.g. kitlist-0.6.10.tar.gz

  2. Extract the source code to a working directory

    $ mkdir ~/projects
$ cd ~/projects
$ tar -zxf ~/Desktop/kitlist-0.6.10.tar.gz
$ cd kitlist-0.6.10

  3. Run the GNU configure command which checks the environment and that all required libraries are installed.  If configure completes without error, you can move onto the next step.

    $ CXXFLAGS='-g -O0 -fno-inline -std=c++11' ./configure --prefix=/opt/local --disable-build-docs

    Note: the --prefix=/opt/local parameter.  This is the location that the package contents will be installed to.  This is the default location for a MacPorts installation.  If you use a location other than /opt/local, e.g. /sw for Fink users, specify that instead.

  4. Build the package:

    $ make

  5. Install the package as root:

    $ sudo make install

You should now be able to run Kitlist after starting the X11 package.  On Tiger, the X11.app package can be found under /Applications/Utilities/X11.app.

By default, when X11 first runs it opens an XTerm window.  This isn't ordinarily setup with the correct PATH statement.  Subsequent XTerm windows should have the correct PATH.  Start another XTerm window and conform that /opt/local/bin is in your PATH statement.

    $ echo $PATH

If not, temporarily add it to your path as follows:

    $ export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH

To include it in future XTerm sessions, add it to your ~/.profile startup file.

    $ echo "export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH" >>~/.profile

If /opt/local/bin is in your path, you can start Kitlist with:

    $ kitlist

If it's not in your path, you have to type in the entire path to the kitlist executable:

    $ /opt/local/bin/kitlist

The Kitlist GUI should now be displayed on your Desktop.

Adding Kitlist to the X11 Applications Menu

  1. In the X11 application, select the "Customize Menu..." option from the "Applications" menu

  2. Click the "Add" button

  3. A blank row opens up

  4. Double click in the "Menu Name" column of the blank row

  5. Enter a name for the application, e.g. "Kitlist"

  6. Press the tab key to move to the Command column

  7. Enter the command as /opt/local/bin/kitlsit

  8. Press the tab key to move to the shortcut column

  9. Optionally, add a short cut key of perhaps "k" by typing the letter k in this column

  10. Click "Done"

The application has been added to the "Applications" menu, and can optionally be executed by pressing the Command key in combination with the chosen shortcut letter.

Adding a Startup Script to the Desktop

  1. Start the AppleScript Script Editor  The Script Editor.app file is installed under /Applications/AppleScript.

  2. If there isn't already a new script window, choose the "New" option from the "File" menu

  3. Choose the "AppleScript Script File" option under the "AppleScript" section. 

  4. Choose a name and location for the script

  5. Paste the following script into the top section of the window:

    tell application "Finder"
     launch application "X11"
end tell


set results to do shell script "(cd ~; open-x11 /opt/local/bin/kitlist -display :0.0) >/dev/null 2>&1 &"

  6. Choose "Compile" from the "Script" menu

  7. Choose "Save As..." from the "File" menu

  8. Choose a location to save the file.  E.g. Desktop

  9. Choose a filename and set the "File Format" to "application"

  10. Choose "Save"

Setting the Application Icon

  1. Use Finder to navigate to the location of the Kitlist source code.  E.g. ~/projects/kitlist

  2. Double click the kitlist.128.png file which should open up the Apple Preview application

  3. Select "Copy" from the "Edit" menu of the Preview application

  4. Use Finder to bring up the info page on the application we're setting.  E.g. select ~/Desktop/kitlist.app, right-click and select "Get Info" from the pop-up window. Click the icon at the top left of the info pain, and choose "Paste" from the "Edit" menu.  The icon should change to the chosen one.

-- Frank Dean - 07 Feb 2010

Related Topics: AppleMaciBook, InstallingMacPorts, MacKeyboardTips