In computing, the Fink project is an effort to port Unix programs to Mac OS X. Fink uses dpkg and APT (Debian's package management system), as well as its own frontend program, fink (which is implemented as a set of Perl modules). It is maintained by a community of contributors. A software release refers to the creation and availability of a new version of a computer software product. ... June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, images, videos and other digital assets and hosted on a particular domain or subdomain on the World Wide Web. ... Memory (Random Access Memory) Look up computing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed (e. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... A computer program is a collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of tasks, to be carried out by a computer. ... Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... dpkg is the base of the Debian package management system. ... Advanced Packaging Tool, or APT, is a package management system used by Debian and its derivatives. ... Debian is a project based around the development of a free, complete operating system based on the work of the GNU Project through the collaboration of volunteers from around the world. ... Illustration of a package management system being used to download new software. ... A Perl module is a discrete component of software for the Perl programming language. ...

Fink is widely recommended as the simplest way for users to install and maintain Unix programs on Mac OS X. It features a binary distribution for quick and easy installation, as well as a source distribution for users preferring more flexibility. In addition to command-line tools for handling packages, FinkCommander provides a GUI. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... FinkCommander is a convenient [GUI] frontend to Fink. ... A graphical user interface (or GUI, often pronounced gooey), is a particular case of user interface for interacting with a computer which employs graphical images and widgets in addition to text to represent the information and actions available to the user. ...

Fink is not compliant with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, as it stores all its data in a hierarchy rooted at its own directory, "/sw" by default, rather than as part of the base system or under "/usr/local". The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) defines the main directories and their contents in GNU/Linux and other Unix-like computer operating systems. ...

The name "Fink" is German for finch and is related to the Darwin operating system (that lies at the core of Mac OS X), through Charles Darwin's study of diversity among finches. Genera Many, see text Finches are passerine birds, often seed-eating, found chiefly in the northern hemisphere and Africa. ... Hexley, the mascot of Darwin Darwin is a free, open source, Unix-like operating system first released by Apple Computer in 2000. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ...

The Fink project was started in December 2000 by German hacker Christoph Pfisterer who goes by the handle "chrisp." He left the project in November 2001 on a bitter note.

Recently (2006) Fink has worked on becoming a legal non-profit organisation named Fink Developer Network that will help govern the further development of Fink.

Fink currently lists, when including split-offs and the unstable distribution, over 7500 packages in 24 sections.

See also

Free software Portal

• MacPorts (formerly called DarwinPorts)
• Gentoo/Alt

Image File history File links Portal. ... MacPorts, formerly called DarwinPorts,[1] is an open source project to simplify installation of other open source software on the Mac OS X and Darwin operating systems. ... Gentoo/ALT is a Gentoo Linux project created to manage porting the Portage framework and other features to other operating systems, such as Mac OS X and the open source BSDs. ...

External links

• Fink project homepage
• Fink Package Database
• Fink Wiki
• Directory of Unix software ported to Mac OS X
• Fink IRC channel