Enabling Expansions on MacOS with 1.90

[hiran]

Also, you don't *have* to install OXZ's in the Managed AddOns folder. They will work successfully from the AddOns folder. The only benefit for installing in the Managed AddOns folder is if you want to eventually use the Download Manager, in which case having the OXZ's in the right place will allow it to update them. But, if you've given up on getting the DM working on a Mac, and are pursuing the manual install method instead, all of that is moot and the AddOns folder is perfectly fine for OXZ's.

I agree. But to keep things simple I decided to just mention one directory. Do you know where the Addons folder resides on a Mac? I think it depends on the installation of Oolite itself.

[hiran]

Finally, this line:

open this file with your preferred editor

That's super vague. At the moment, the only app I know that can read/write to the settings file is Xcode. It might be better to mention that Xcode is the preferred editor, and then suggest if the user has another app that can edit these files they should use that.

I saw the hint for XCode in the other document - yet I believe not every pilot has Apple's IDE installed.
But what editor is the default plain text editor on MacOS?

[phkb]

But what editor is the default plain text editor on MacOS?

From the  Hidden settings in Oolite page:

This is human-readable in Mac OS X 10.3.9 and earlier, but binary in 10.4 and later.

So, most Mac users are going to be above OS 10.4, which means you can't edit the settings file with a text editor. The only tool that I know of that can do the job is Xcode. So, from what I can see, Mac OS (from 10.4) doesn't give the user a way to edit these plist files by default.

[phkb]

Also from that Hidden Settings page for Mac, it refers to a "Secrets preference pane", which is now a dead link. I did a bit of research, and tried to get an equivalent app to install on my Mac OS VM, but it didn't seem to work out of the box, so I can't offer any 3rd party tool to do the same job.

[Cholmondely]

But what editor is the default plain text editor on MacOS?

TextEdit

There is also something called Script Editor for programming. Too complicated for me.

[phkb]

Do you know where the Addons folder resides on a Mac?

Default location is "~/Library/Application Support/Oolite/AddOns"

[phkb]

OK, I found the default way Apple gives you to edit these settings.

Via a command line. Oh, the irony.

Anyway, here's the method:
1. Open "Terminal", which can be done via the Launchpad (I think Terminal is in the "Other" group)
2. Type in this command exactly as shown:

Code: Select all

defaults write org.aegidian.oolite oxz-index-url http://addons.oolite.space/api/1.0/overview

Then press enter, and you're done.

[hiran]

OK, I found the default way Apple gives you to edit these settings.

Via a command line. Oh, the irony.

Anyway, here's the method:
1. Open "Terminal", which can be done via the Launchpad (I think Terminal is in the "Other" group)
2. Type in this command exactly as shown:

Code: Select all

defaults write org.aegidian.oolite oxz-index-url http://addons.oolite.space/api/1.0/overview

Then press enter, and you're done.

I like it, and I updated the wiki page. Hope it contains clear instructions now.

[edsel6502]

I confirm. The wiki looks good.

And yeah. If you don't want to download xcode. Use the defaults command in Terminal.

/et