Kyle D. Skrinak

I have a client’s MacBook Pro 17″ that needs a OS reinstallation. So, here’s my process for a fresh installation of Mac OS X:

1. Wipe root hard disk clean. using 7x overwriting, using Disk Utility from the installation disk, prior to installation. Why? I’m not clear on this, but by wiping the entire disk with repeated reading and writing to sectors, the disk’s error detection system should disable any defective sectors. I’m thinking of this as a non-BIOS user’s Spinright.(Update: This idea was thoroughly disabused here. Oh, the benefits of journaling, community and the Internet.)
2. I would have liked to have used Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive) disk formatting for purely arbitrary reasons, but it appears this is a problem with some applications, so I choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). As we know, I’m not a fan of how Mac manages files, largely due to legacy support.
3. Install Mac OS X 10.5. At the “Install Summary” window, click on “Customize” and turn off all the noise:
   1. Only the HP printers (or printers I would expect to use — these are the most common in my experience)
   2. Only American English language files and fonts (even though I develop for a multi-lingual site — there’s quite a bit of data these packages install)
   3. X11 (for fink, later)
   4. I do let the disk checksum run — yes, it’s slow but it’s helpful knowing there’s no file corruption on the installation DVD.
4. Perform standard computer setup
   1. As a work machine, I’m not entering my Apple account info. Inappropriate for someone else’s business machine
   2. I don’t have a MobileMe account, nor want to spend $99/year on this service.
5. Continue installing packages
   1. Oxford Dictionaries (Optional Installs)
   2. XCode standard installation
   3. While installing XCode installed, Apple downloaded updates. I clicked on “Install and Restart”
6. Run “Software Update” (Install and Restart) until all updates are installed (for me, this was three times)
7. Run “DiskWarrior” to perform its disk review and remedy (in my case, DW found no errors but it has caught issues other times)
8. Install AppFresh (I love the ubuntu model for comprehensive OS and application updating) and check for updates. Here it finds:
   1. XCode (Updating: it’s a big download, so expect to wait. Good news is that it also updates all but X11, below)
      1. Dashcode
      2. Instrumets
      3. Interface Builder
      4. Quartz Composer
   2. X11
9. Download and install fink
   1. Install using the directions at the fink site.
   2. Enable the “unstable” repos.
   3. Run “fink selfupdate” (Updates the fink app to 0.9.0.2
   4. Install zsh
   5. Install svn-clientDon’t fink install svn-client. Rather, leopard’s version is more current than fink. Fink can be so slow at updates. BTW, fink and Mac are at version 1.4.4; svn is now at version 1.6.
   6. Install zsh template files
   7. Make zsh default user shell. Follow directions here.
   8. Run configure_zsh_templates in the shell — much better than the arduous manner zsh has you do this.
10. fink install quanta (the best non-CLI FLOSS HTML editor, but that’s not saying much, a surprising deficiency)
    1. This will install the base kde files, which I’ll use for klinkstatus and
    2. Huh. kdiff3 is missing. There’s a QT4-linked binary here. KDE on Mac is always a challenge; I’m sure it’s me.
11. fink install lftpCompile lftp, NOT fink. See here for why.
12. fink install rsyncAnother myth bits the dust — Apple’s rsync is more current than fink’s — no need to install.
13. fink install p7zip
14. Install MacVim (not fink’s vim — MacVim is so much better.)
    1. Time-saving details: Only copy MacVim.app into the /Applications folder, not the MacVim folder
    2. Copy mvim to /sw/bin
15. Install QuickSilver
    1. Map the keyboard shortcut to “Control-Shift-Spacebar”
    2. Enable “Launch on Startup”
16. Install MenuMeters (a system monitoring utility)
17. Install MacFUSE
18. Install WebKit
19. Install NeoOffice
20. Install gimp (not using fink — the binary here is better)
21. Install VirtualBox (I like VMWare’s Fusion, but the price for VirtualBox is compelling) and my testing OS’s .vdi image. Moving the image isn’t painless, however. More at another post.
22. Get rid of the dreck from the dock: dashboard, mail, safari, ichat, ical, iphoto <eyeroll>, preferences
23. Enable Remote Login in the Sharing Screen
24. Run Disk Warrior again.
25. Update: Install SiteSucker
26. Update: Install Text Wrangler (I love BBEdit but I want to cut that tether to that type of software licensing, so forget TextMate)
27. Update: Foxmarks (Solves a long old problem of cross-browser, cross-platform synchronization)
28. Update: Bitstream Vera Sans fonts. There’s no accounting for taste — this is my favorite mono-spaced font.