Alexander Aakesson wrote:

Hi, my name is Alec Aakesson, and I just moved from linux/freebsd environment to a Mac environment. I would like to download the darwin ports and install them on my Mac [OS X 10.4]. I would like to know if I have to pay to do that or buy any special software? Is it available to any one? I am not doing this for any organization, but for my own edification. When I went to download the source for the ports I was asked to enter my 'work e-mail address.' I am used to working with freebsd ports, but I am not quite sure how Mac does things. Please let me know.

Cheers, Alec

MacPorts is free and open-source software released under the BSD license. There is no cost to download it, and install it, and install software with it. Did you download it from http://www.macports.org? It doesn't ask for a work e-mail address to do this. The base MacPorts distribution is a command-line application; if you are comfortable with the terminal then you should be fine. If you prefer a graphical interface, there are a few different options, some which are free/open-source and some which are commercial applications (I develop one of the commercial GUI applications). Hope this helps, Kevin -- Kevin Walzer Code by Kevin http://www.codebykevin.com