A type of user interface for a computer. This can be both command line or graphical user interfaces. More commonly, shell often relates to the command line interface.

learn more… | top users | synonyms

10
votes
1answer
8k views

Can I get the CPU temperature and fan speed from the command line in OS X?

Is there a command I can run from the command line in OS X to get the current CPU temperature and/or the fan speed(s)? To be more specific, I'd like to be able to get the same info available in the ...
2
votes
2answers
41 views

Create a automator application able to launch and quit from dock

I have a shell command thats runs endlessly, until you stop it using Control-C. When I run it from the Terminal, it goes something like: $ /abspath/to/my-command Command is running ... Use Control-C ...
10
votes
4answers
4k views

Is it possible to run Nautilus on OS X?

Is it possible to run Nautilus instead of Finder on Mac OS X Snow Leopard? How?
12
votes
2answers
6k views

Amending PATH so that /usr/local/bin is ahead of /usr/bin

I'm trying to install brew but get the following warning: Warning: /usr/bin occurs before /usr/local/bin This means that system-provided programs will be used instead of those provided by Homebrew. ...
3
votes
1answer
263 views

How do I find where an environmental variable got set?

I installed a program to try it out, and decided I didn't like it so I moved the app to the trash. Today, in my shell, I noticed that there are a couple of PROGRAMNAME_BLAHBLAH environmental ...
0
votes
1answer
21 views

Set environment variable for the process before startup [duplicate]

I have the following situation: I have Mac OS bundle with application which uses some 3rd party dylib's and those dylib's depend on some env variable, let's name it ENV_VAR. I want to set ENV_VAR to ...
10
votes
2answers
408 views

cd to a directory just by typing its name?

For example if a directory 'blob' exists, I just type 'blob[return]' and the system cds into the blob directory for me. In Linux (Ubuntu) I can use shopt -s autocd and I add it to my .bashrc file, ...
3
votes
2answers
149 views

Are Bash, Bourne, and Korn shells compiled into one binary in OSX?

On OSX 10.8, if you compare the binaries for bash, sh, and ksh, a few different shell options, they are the same size. If you take it further and cmp the binaries, there seems to be only a ...
0
votes
1answer
40 views

Is there a package management system for shell scripts on Mac OS?

Is there a package system (think npm, cpan, or even homebrew) that would be suitable for shell scripts?
0
votes
0answers
57 views

In Mountain Lion why do remote shells via ssh do NOT inherit the environment of the launchd parent process?

When logging in to my Mountain Lion Mac remotely via ssh I do not get the same PATH variable as when I open a shell locally: The local shell inherits its environment as expected from launchd and ...
5
votes
2answers
454 views

How to mount a RAM disk on startup?

I'm trying to mount a RAM disk on startup with this: /Users/Aram/Development/Tools/ramdisk.sh diskutil erasevolume HFS+ "RamDisk" `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://800000` com.aram.ramdisk.plist ...
2
votes
2answers
78 views

Change default shell from bash to zsh

I've tried to switch my default shell to zsh, using chsh: chsh -s /bin/zsh and: chsh -s `which zsh` Both commands ended with: Changing shell for adamatan. Password for adamatan: chsh: ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views

Something wrong with the root shell

Today, I've tried opening a root shell and, oh surprise, weird answer... Any idea of where it could be from ?
3
votes
0answers
56 views

“Libraries” (a la Windows 7) on OS X?

There's one feature from Windows 7 that I sort of like (yeah, yeah, I know...) and would like to implement (differently) on OS X. It's what they call "Libraries". It allows you to have the contents ...
0
votes
1answer
52 views

Why would SetFile be unavailable after upgrading to Mountain Lion?

I have Xcode installed, and have used the SetFile command (installed with Xcode) for some time. I just upgraded to Mountain Lion, though, and find that it is suddenly unavailable. I verified that ...
-1
votes
3answers
46 views

How to source a file in Mac

I'm from the Linux world where if I want to source a file I type for example: 'source /etc/profile' How do I do this in Mac?
0
votes
0answers
42 views

Automating Python with launchd & permissions

I setup a Python script to run automatically using launchd (via a .plist) I wanted this particular script to always run, whether a user was logged in or not, so I put the .plist that "launches" it ...
0
votes
5answers
2k views

How do I fix Terminal.app when my shell has been set to an illegal value?

Today I was mucking about trying to uninstall macports when I noticed an error being thrown up whenever I used sudo. I killed Terminal and tried to restart it which failed with the error message ...
2
votes
1answer
85 views

how to get ls to list files in case-insensitive order?

How do I get the ls shell command to list my files in: case-insensitive order with the directories at the top? The reason I ask is: I want Aquamacs Emacs dired to list my files and directories ...
1
vote
0answers
64 views

mac asking password after cd in terminal

Recently my mac has started asking me for a password after I use cd in Terminal.app (haven't tested other term apps). strangely though, if I press ctrl-C when the passowrd is asked, the question goes ...
1
vote
2answers
139 views

How to Run Shell Script upon Application Launch?

Not sure if this belongs here or on SuperUser, but it's Mac specific, so I'll go with here. I wrote a Ruby script that edits TextMate's global properties file and changes the theme based on the time ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views

Determine geolocation in shell / Terminal on OS X 10.5

Is there a way to determine geolocation in shell / Terminal on OS X 10.5? There's another question, Is there a way to access a Mac's geolocation from terminal? (Mountain Lion), but it seems to ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views

How to change some information in a shell prompt.

I opened my terminal and saw a shell prompt. Last login: Fri Feb 15 15:28:16 on ttys000 john:~ voloda2$ How do I change john to alex?
2
votes
3answers
189 views

How to determine the absolute path to a file in a shell script

I am writing a generic script that can get passed both absolute and relative (to the current working dir) paths to existing files. I need a fail-safe way to turn all those passed paths into absolute ...
0
votes
0answers
101 views

How to make shell extensions in mac os x

Is there an equivalent of context menu extensions for mac os? I would like to port mine from windows. An example would be the context menu entries for 7-zip or winzip. Specifically I would like to ...
1
vote
0answers
34 views

Most efficient way to get all files in a directory

I have a million+ files spread across four fiber-connected arrays. I need to get the path, filesize, and last_modified date to insert into a mysql database. What would be the best way to do this? ...
0
votes
1answer
41 views

How to manually determine version control metadata for Finder?

I have a Scripts folder where I keep Automator actions, Applescripts, and shell scripts. Automator scripts are automatically assigned a version of 1.1.1 it seems. When I make revisions to any of these ...
0
votes
1answer
110 views

How to use automater to run mongo db and node.js app on startup

I'm trying to use Automater(first attempt of using this software) to create a sequence that will automatically run ./usr/mongo/bin/mongod and ./usr/mongo/bin/mongo then run my node.js server app at ...
1
vote
1answer
189 views

How do I make terminal sessions resume on Lion with iterm2 and tcshrc

My understanding is that with Lion my terminal windows should restore their state. However, this does not happen for me. I wonder if this is because I use tcsh instead of bash? Is there something I ...
4
votes
1answer
144 views

How to reset $PATH?

I was trying to add something to $PATH and it went totally wrong. I now can't run any commands such as ls. I've looked at this answer and used the following lines: ...
3
votes
2answers
369 views

Editing System Preferences via Terminal

Am looking to edit system preferences settings via the command line but cannot for the life of me find the correct names of variables. In Login Options under Users & Groups, I would like to be ...
29
votes
3answers
12k views

How can I trigger a Notification Center notification from an AppleScript or shell script?

I'd love to be able to take advantage of 10.8's Notification Center features in AppleScripts and shell scripts I write. Is there a built-in command or a third-party library I can use from either an ...
0
votes
1answer
131 views

TimeMachine restore issue

Times ago I did a "restore from time machine backup" in order to restore all my files on a new SSD I bought for my macbookpro (with OSX Lion), and all went fine. Today I installed Mountain Lion on ...
1
vote
2answers
984 views

Change Date Created based on the filename

I've downloaded a bunch of my Instagram images but the Date Created of the files is set to the time that I initiated the download. What I do have though is the Date Created in the filename. What I ...
3
votes
1answer
518 views

How to fix lsregister failing associations after reboot? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do I remove duplicate “Open With” context menu items in Finder.app? I'm running 10.7.5 and I have noticed a problem with associations between files and applications. ...
0
votes
0answers
121 views

A working applescript fails when running via cron

MacOs 10.8.2 I have 2 applescripts shown below. They are arranged in one shell script to run one after another by using osascript (just to simplify the example). Everything works fine when starting ...
27
votes
4answers
1k views

Is there a way to access a Mac's geolocation from terminal? (Mountain Lion)

(Note the Mountain Lion update at end of question) Some GUI apps use OS X location services, but I want to retrieve a Mac's physical location from the command line. This could be useful for running ...
3
votes
1answer
72 views

Detecting that a script is run within ARD

Does anyone know of a way to detect that a shell script is running within ARD (vs. running the same script locally on the machine)? I looked at detecting that we are running in interactive mode - ...
8
votes
3answers
196 views

How can I automatically keep track of in-office hours when I connect to my office Wi-Fi?

I'm looking for a solution that starts a timer whenever I sign in to my office wifi and stops it when I've left. It should essentially log the hours I've spent at the office. I'm aware that there's ...
1
vote
0answers
600 views

How can I open Google Chrome in Presentation mode using a shell script

Previously in 10.6.8, I was able to start Google using open /Applications/Chrome.app --args --kiosk http://www.google.com Now, on newer systems, that does not work anymore correctly. The only way to ...
0
votes
0answers
100 views

Script to Update/download most recent iTunes podcast WITHOUT opening iTunes at all?

I have a couple favorite podcasts that I subscribe to in iTunes. I'm using You Control (so I don't have to open iTunes to play my music). I'm using Keyboard Maestro. I've made a macro that runs ...
6
votes
2answers
246 views

How can I change my default bash shell to a different one - /usr/local/bin/bash

How can I set my /usr/local/bin/bash (which is the 4.2 version that allows auto-completion of 'cd to directory with directory name') to be my default bash for a new window instead of my regular ...
6
votes
2answers
338 views

How can I kill a process using top on OS X?

On other Unixe,s I can use top and then hit K and type the process ID. How can I do that in OS X? I can type kill [the_pid] on its own at the command line and that works. However, I was wondering if ...
1
vote
1answer
167 views

How do I find what packages I've installed via terminal?

I've been learning the shell for a few weeks and have installed several packages. I know/remember what some of them are, like oh-my-zsh and emacs 24 (which was a nightmare to upgrade to), but not sure ...
0
votes
0answers
160 views

License problems installing aquaterm via macports

I am trying to install aquaterm via macports. I run sudo port install aquaterm This gives back an error: ---> Building aquaterm Error: org.macports.build for port aquaterm returned: command ...
5
votes
1answer
219 views

How to isolate the most disk-active process(es) in OS X?

I have some process(es) performing a lot of drive access from time to time, however I've hitherto been unable to isolate which process or processes are performing the access. What shell command can I ...
1
vote
1answer
530 views

dyld message when launching commands as sudo

When I launch a command from the shell as super user I always get back the following message: dyld: DYLD_ environment variables being ignored because main executable (/usr/bin/sudo) is setuid or ...
1
vote
2answers
246 views

Why sh -c 'echo -n 1' is different from bash -c 'echo -n 1'

I am on a Mac Book Air, OSX 10.8. I am trying to understand why these two snippets do not print the same output. sh -c 'echo -n 1' outputs -n 1 whereas bash -c 'echo -n 1' outputs 1 as expected. ...
1
vote
1answer
113 views

How can I make autocomplete in the shell work with case-folding?

How can I make the autocompletion for files and folders in the bash shell work case-insensitively? Ideally, cd ~/doc + tab autocompletes to cd ~/Documents (correcting the case as it autocompletes), ...
2
votes
3answers
985 views

Opening a terminal window to a specific directory from a bash script

How can I write a bash script in Mac OS X that opens a Terminal window in a specific directory? I'd assume something like: open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app But that does nothing (maybe ...

1 2 3