What Makes an App the System Default? Post: 302770436

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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers What Makes an App the System Default? Post 302770436 by sudon't on Friday 15th of February 2013 09:07:01 PM

02-15-2013

Registered User

What Makes an App the System Default?

Hi!
I'm not sure how, (or if), Apple updates stuff in the standard unix installation of OS X, but whenever I have occasion to check a version number of something in my standard install, it is outdated. Normally, I will then install the newer version via ports, which usually becomes the default. Being a long-time Mac user, I am used to these things happening automagically, and I don't always give it much thought.
But today, I wanted to install a little Scrabble Solver script I found, and it required ruby 1.9.2, or better. I checked my version in /bin, and found I had 1.8, so I installed ruby19 via ports. Then I tried to install the script.

Code:

$ sudo gem install scrabble-solver
ERROR:  Error installing scrabble-solver:
	scrabble-solver requires Ruby version >= 1.9.2

$ which ruby
/usr/bin/ruby

$ ls -l /opt/local/bin/ |grep ruby
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root  admin     9024 Feb  6 11:21 ruby1.9
$

Why didn't ruby 1.9 become the default? How does the system determine which app is the default? I used to think it simply accepted the first one it came across in my PATH, but clearly that is not the case.

Code:

$ echo $PATH
/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/MacGPG2/bin:/usr/X11/bin

I haven't had occasion to invoke ruby myself, but I suppose other stuff uses it. Is there any reason I couldn't just set an alias to ruby 19 in my bash config? Would that solve the problem in terms of installing this script?
TIA!

sudon't

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LEARN ABOUT OSX

softwareupdate

softwareupdate(8)					    BSD System Manager's Manual 					 softwareupdate(8)

NAME

     softwareupdate -- system software update tool

SYNOPSIS

     softwareupdate command [args ...]

DESCRIPTION

     Software Update checks for new and updated versions of your software based on information about your computer and current software.

     Invoke softwareupdate by specifying a command followed by zero or more args.

     softwareupdate requires admin authentication for all commands except --list.  If you run softwareupdate as a normal admin user, you will be
     prompted for a password where required. Alternatively, you can run softwareupdate as root and avoid all further authentication prompts.

     The following commands are available:

     -l | --list
		 List all available updates.

     -i | --install
		 Each update specified by args is downloaded and installed.  args can be one of the following:

		 -r | --recommended
			     All updates that are recommended for your system. These are prefixed with a * character in the --list output.

		 -a | --all  All updates that are applicable to your system, including those non-recommended ones, which are prefixed with a -
			     character in the --list output. (Non-recommended updates are uncommon in any case.)

		 item ...    One or more specified updates. The --list output shows the item names you can specify here, prefixed by the * or -
			     characters. See EXAMPLES.

     -d | --download
		 Each update specified by args is downloaded but not installed. The values of args are the same as for the --install command.
		 Updates downloaded with --download can be subsequently installed with --install, or through the App Store (as long as they remain
		 applicable to your system).  Updates are downloaded to /Library/Updates, but are not designed to be installed by double-clicking
		 the packages in that directory: always use --install or the App Store to actually perform the install.

     --ignore identifier ...
		 Manages the per-machine list of ignored updates. The identifier is the first part of the item name (before the dash and version
		 number) that is shown by --list.  See EXAMPLES.

     --reset-ignored
		 Clears the per-machine list of ignored updates.

     --schedule on | off
		 Manages the per-machine automatic (background) check preference.

     -h | --help
		 Print command usage.

EXAMPLES

     The following examples are shown as given to the shell:

     softwareupdate --list

	   Software Update Tool
	   Copyright 2002-2012 Apple Inc.

	   Finding available software
	   Software Update found the following new or updated software:
	      * MacBookAirEFIUpdate2.4-2.4
		   MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update (2.4), 3817K [recommended] [restart]
	      * ProAppsQTCodecs-1.0
		   ProApps QuickTime codecs (1.0), 968K [recommended]
	      * JavaForOSX-1.0
		   Java for OS X 2012-005 (1.0), 65288K [recommended]

     sudo softwareupdate --install JavaForOSX-1.0

	   Software Update Tool
	   Copyright 2002-2012 Apple Inc.

	   Finding available software

	   Downloading Java for OS X 2012-005
	   Downloaded Java for OS X 2012-005
	   Installing Java for OS X 2012-005
	   Done with Java for OS X 2012-005
	   Done.

     sudo softwareupdate --ignore JavaForOSX

	   Ignored updates:
	   (JavaForOSX)

     sudo softwareupdate --schedule

	   Automatic check is on

Mac OS								September 11, 2012							    Mac OS