Jason Wong

All the cool kids are using Fish, so why can't I? BASH is so 90's. Cause it won't fracking install on my copy of Snow Leopard, dang it. I spent the greater part of this weekend trying to figure out why Fish didn't like me. Read this so you won't have to endure my pain.

port install fish

wouldn't install. ports/fish kept asking for iconv, gettext, or whatnot. 64-bit/32-bit unix apps don't play well together in Snow Leopard, and because I upgraded from Leopard and I needed to reinstall ports to deal with it. Long and painful, indeed. You, though, can do this with 60 seconds of typing:

1. Reinstall ports (via http://trac.macports.org/wiki/Migration)

a. Save the list of installed ports:

port installed > myports.txt

b. Clean any partially completed builds, and uninstall all installed ports:

sudo port clean all
watch football/do laundry/deshell next week's pistachios
sudo port -f uninstall installed

c. Browse myports.txt and install the ports that you actually want to use (as opposed to those that are only needed as dependencies) one by one, remembering to specify the appropriate variants:

sudo port install portname +variant1 +variant2 ...

2. Install fish

port install fish

3. Make it default

append "opt/local/bin/fish" to the /etc/shells file
utilize accounts.prefpane, unlock it, right click your icon, and set your shell to "opt/local/bin/fish"

4. Voila! Enjoy fish!

For a more on Fish, here's an old Ars Technica article, and a lwn.net article.

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