So, I’ve been having a few more questions asking about how to setup MarcEdit on Linux and a Mac. In general, the program works very well on both platforms, but takes a bit of know-how to get them running. This is primarily due to the Z39.50 components that I link to. On Linux, installation is very straightforward — on a Mac, the easiest process I’ve found is using Mac Ports — but it can take as long as an hour to install all the dependencies. Given that Z39.50 is becoming less and less important as a protocol — I’ve worked out a process so that the program can essentially turn off these components by default when installed on non-Windows systems. To that end, I’m reworking the zip download, and then will be looking at how I can make an installer that can be used on non-Windows platforms to make the installation a little bit easier. On linux, I don’t think this will be all that difficult (I work primarily in a Windows/Linux environment) — on a Mac, it might take me just a little bit longer because I simply don’t use the platform often.
If you have questions or some interest in this work, let me know.
–tr
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4 responses to “MarcEdit and Linux/Mac”
Terry, definitely interested as I use the Mac version primarily.
Steve,
One of the things that I’d like to work on is how to provide better automated updating of these components as well. It looks like Ohio State has some testing machines (one a mac) that I might be able to take advantage of to look at doing some of that kind of work as well. I’ve actually gone back and forth on investing more time in this because I’ve not been sure the direction the Mono team was going to go (since they seemed to be primarily concerned with Linux compatibility) — but there’s been a lot of work lately done cleaning up Mac issues, so I’m feeling better about taking another look at this.
–tr
Hi, Terry,
Instead of Macports, I’d suggest taking a look at Homebrew – you may find it more convenient for this. For example, in Homebrew yaz has minimal package dependencies and builds in about a minute.
Hi Terry:
I’m glad I found your site. I’m a mac user, and was on the verge of buying a PC laptop to help my mom with some cataloging, since I didn’t think MarcEdit was available for my mac.
I’m running 10.6.8 and found your Youtube video for installing MarcEdit. I followed it step by step while also following the INSTALL.txt from the MarcEdit download (version 5.5?). It was somewhat easy to follow, but it definitely took some time since I never go into the Terminal. I did notice that the INSTALL.txt didn’t match the one in your video, so I followed the INSTALL.txt instructions more closely.
In the end, I got MarcEdit installed and was able to open it, but no records show when I tried doing a search for “map of oregon” the same way you did it on your tutorial video. I’m not sure where I went wrong. Terminal procedures/commands are a completely foreign language to me and I don’t want to get myself into any deeper trouble by trying to guess fixes.
I would appreciate your help because I need to get MarcEdit up and running ASAP in order to complete the work which will be given to me. Thanks so much for your time and consideration.
Yours,
GN