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So you've Upgrade to Snow Leopard? Post Dev Feedback Here

7 points by whalesalad ↗ HN
Those developing on the mac generally have lots of added libraries and tools... like Fink or MacPorts, different Python or Ruby versions, etc..

In my case, I don't use the base install of Apache and run my own, with mod_wsgi. I also run my own build of MySQL. Because of things like this, I tend to shy away from all of the automated crap (such as the migration tools, and upgrading a point release rather than a fresh install) and I don't think i'm alone. I upgraded my older Macbook Pro to Leopard by formatting and installing fresh, then manually moving data.

Because Snow Leopard is a smaller release and more of a glorified patch or service-pack if you will, I am wondering if I really need to do this. I'd love to get feedback from all the Mac hackers out there who have upgrade to Snow Leopard. What kind of problems have you noticed, if any?

16 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 45.4 ms ] thread
randrews
Carbon Emacs works fine. Ruby works fine, although some gems that have native extensions needed reinstalling.

X11 seems to be totally broken though. The Gimp and Crossover both don't work at all.

[dead] ftse
ImageMagick seems to be totally broken. I've tried MacPorts & recompiling the source, but not really making any progress. I had a few hiccups with libxml2 but these were fixed after uninstalling ImageMagick and nokogiri. Nokogiri reinstalls ok, ImageMagick won't.
kevinherron
Eclipse and Wireshark (X11) both seem to be working fine for me.

Xcode+iPhone SDK works still, unsurprisingly...

Xcode uses a new font called Menlo by default now. It's anti-aliased and looks nice.

makecheck
I've noticed no real compatibility problems so far, and I just upgraded my Leopard machine. (Still took an hour, and I didn't even opt to install Xcode 3.2 yet.)

A somewhat odd and annoying change is that /usr/bin no longer contains a number of common tools that are technically developer tools. For instance, there is no /usr/bin/make or /usr/bin/xcodebuild; one must instead look in /Developer/usr/bin.

Both Python 2.5.4 and 2.6.1 are in /usr/bin, and it's handy to have both.

duskwuff
/usr/bin/make et. al. will probably reappear once you install XCode 3.2.
makecheck
Ah, that's good to know. Though I (still) have Xcode 3.1 installed, I was surprised it would just delete the /usr/bin stuff.
ryanmcgrath
Biggest thing that annoys me is that, yet again, like when Leopard first went out, there's no way to modify the colors in the OS X terminal.

Seriously, why on earth does Apple have such a problem with this small feature? It boggles the mind.

makecheck
Which colors do you mean? The Preferences window is used to modify background and text, etc.

Although I admit, the requirement to create preference sets (or modify the default) in order to change a single window, is irritating. That's why I use MacTelnet instead. :)

ryanmcgrath
Font colors, syntax highlighting.
makecheck
The syntax highlighting feature might be relying on the 16/256 basic colors (a.k.a. ANSI colors).

I have not tried this, but I dug up a hack that someone has done to add an ANSI colors editor to Terminal:

http://ciaranwal.sh/2007/11/01/customising-colours-in-leopar...

MacTelnet has an ANSI colors editor built-in.

andreyf
I dug up a hack that someone has done to add an ANSI colors editor to Terminal

Right. That doesn't work in Snow Leopard. That's what OP meant.

GreggW
I just told my wife, "The next time I want to be an early adopter, just hit me until I fall to the ground and stay there."

I have a bilateral hand disability, and the program I DEPEND on, MacSpeech Dictate, doesn't work under Snow Leopard. I had refused to pay an extra $55 for features that should have been there in the first place, but now I have to. Furthermore, the UPDATE ISN'T DOWNLOADABLE (they mail it to you, for $10 to $90 extra, based on how fast you want it). And the final insult is that it's not clear the new version will even work until they (not an especially responsive company, of course) release a Snow Leopard update that may be delayed by "several minor functional and cosmetic issues" they want to add!

I'm hosed for at least a week, maybe longer. I'm 55 years old, the very definition of a gentle, responsible person, and this is the first time I've flamed IN MY LIFE. But I've got to say this:

I HATE MACSPEECH, THEIR BUSINESS PRACTICES, THEIR INSANELY BRAIN-DEAD DESIGN AND USABILITY DECISIONS, AND THEIR TOTAL DISREGARD OF INFORMED (former 10-year technical Apple employee) FEEDBACK BY SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY USES AND DEPENDS ON THEIR PRODUCT EVERY DAY.

Even though it hurts my hands to type this, it was WORTH IT.

I could go on...but that's it, basically. And not a single exclamation mark or #$@%&* expletive, either.

shabble
Has anyone tested SIMBL plugins such as Visor ( http://github.com/darwin/visor/tree/master ) with it? I ended up twiddling my thumbs for a while when some security updates broke it previously (10.5.3, I think?) and would like to check the same doesn't happen.
andreyf
Upgrading broke my apache/mod_wsgi setup (says Premature end of script headers: django.wsgi), still debugging, although I'm not the best at fixing these things :-/
xfi155
Safari Flash-Plugin using 15%+ CPU continuous, unexpectedly crashed during session.

Firefox behaving well

scribesa
MyTV/x does not work with Snow Leopard because Eskape Labs is not issuing any update after 10.4 VMware version 1 is not compatible with Snow Leopard. I lost data. I reinstalled Tiger and I lost everything on iTunes. For me, Snow Leopard is a sad experience.