Quoted-Printable

I just read that MacPorts has been selected by Google as a member project of the Summer of Code for 2007.

http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/wiki/SummerOfCode

There are a bunch of tasks on the list, including a re-write of the dependencies system, as well as a GUI, but of particular interest to me is Task #4: Binaries.

MacPorts project does not provide binaries yet (installation of software without compiling them). This project consists in working in concert (or cooperatively) with whomever does (virtual chroot) to setup a mechanism to automatically build packages, send reports on failures and implement a distribution mechanisms to allow users to fetch binary packages.

Before switching to OS X, I was a Linux user. Specifically, I used Ubuntu/Debian, whose apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) package manager is simply wonderful. I realize now how spoiled I was. If OS X lacks anything, it’s a decent package manager. Of course, there’s Fink (which is like apt), but for various reasons I’ve had better luck with (Mac|Darwin)Ports and have developed a preference for it. Now that Apple is (somewhat) behind the MacPorts project, I’m hoping that an ‘official’ package manager will emerge. MacPorts with support for binary ports would rock.

Today I came across FIGlet, a little program for making large letters (signatures, banners, etc.) out of plain text.

I think I always vaguely pictured computer nerds sitting around for days on end painfully positioning pipes and underscores to create these obscure pieces of internet art. Now I know better.

You can download and install FIGlet from http://figlet.org, but if you’re using a package manager you’ll probably find there’s a port for it.

I use Darwin Ports on OSX and installation was trivial:

$ port install figlet

Once FIGlet has been downloaded and installed, start it up by typing figlet at the CLI and then type whatever you want. Alternatively, pipe a file or the output of another command through FIGlet, or put your input right on the command line as an argument.

$ figlet Hello World!

Now, go get working on your signature.