Programs installed with fink will run either in a terminal session of with Xfree.
A good example of a program that can be run in terminal.app is Links (a text-only web browser). If you did not install it yet and want to play with it, try this:
1. Open a terminal session
2. Change directory to /sw/bin (where Fink should be)
3. Type: ./fink install links
4. Once done, type ./links
www.apple.com (or any other url)
An example of an X program is XMahjongg (or Gimp but the later is quite a long download). To play with it:
1. Open a terminal session
2. Change directory to /sw/bin (where Fink should be)
3. Type: ./fink install xmahjongg
4. Once done, start X my typing startx -- -quartz
5. Within X, open a terminal and type xmahjongg
If you get error messages (command not found or stuff like that), this is because the folder containing your programs is not specified in your Path. The Path tells the terminal (both in X and in terminal.app) where to look for "Binaries" (bin) executable (i.e. apps).
To add the folder where Fink installs program to your path (typically the /sw/bin folder), you can modify the .xinitrc file. This file specifies the starting routing for Xfree. To do so:
1. Open a terminal
2. Make sure you are in your home directory (if not, type cd home)
3. type pico .xinitrc
4. add these 2 lines at the very beginning of your .xinitrs file:
PATH="$PATH:/sw/bin" ; export PATH
MANPATH="$MANPATH:/sw/man" ; export MANPATH
5. hit <ctrl>-x
6. type "y" to save changes
7. Hit return
If you get an empty document when you type pico .xinitrc, you will have to search for that file on your HD. If you find it, you really should make a copy of it to your home directory and edit the copy you just made (not the original).
If you suceeded in making the change, you will be able to run any program that is located in the /sw/bin folder without first changing directory to that folder and typing the ./ (as in ./fink install).
If you want terminal.app to do the same, there is a thread on this called "Adding folder to path" or something like that.
Good luck,
Colddiver
