An ode to my OS X development workstation setup [1]
I am big on setting up my development environment, and enjoying the environment I work in. And I’m very thankful to the folks who make my life easier, including the authors of:
- Python: Python Core Developers
- dotfiles: Jon Bernard
- checkoutmanager: Reinout Van Rees
I also love repetition. So picture if you will, a new Macbook Air or Pro ready to serve as my development workstation. I like to perform, and study, the steps required to turn a new laptop in to my development workstation. So here we go. In this article, I will walk through the steps required to turn a new machine in to my developer workstation. Do follow along!
Shell
One of the first things I do on a new system is change my shell to Zsh in System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Current User -> Right Click -> Advanced Options.... Don’t forget to Click the lock to make changes first.
Zsh
Why Zsh? One of my favorite features is shared history between open sessions. So I can run a command in one window, and then run the same command from another window by fetching it from the history (with CTRL-R).
XCode
After I take possession of my new laptop (running Mountain Lion, the newest OS X at the time of this writing), I head to the App Store to download XCode. [2] Among many other things, XCode gives me the GNU C Compiler and allows me to type “gcc” in my Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.
Python
Now I need a Python interpreter [3]. For development I use the Collective Python Buildout but I also enjoy using Homebrew’s Python 2.7. I use Homebrew for a variety of other things too (e.g. mobile-shell AKA mosh) so here we go:
$ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/go)"
… follow instructions …
$ brew install python
Git
I think OS X (or XCode) includes git, but just in case:
$ brew install git
Which reminds me, don’t forget that installing the command line utilities in Mountain Lion’s XCode requires an additional step in Preferences -> Downloads -> Command Line Tools -> Install:
Dotfiles
At this point, I can begin to get serious about turning this new machine in to my developer workstation. And that means: installing my private ssh key so I can check out code without typing a password, of course. Normally this would be tedious, but with git and dotfiles it’s not so bad. This is what I do from my home directory:
$ git clone https://super_secret_url/dotfiles.git Dotfiles
I use https which requires a password for the first time only. Then I edit Dotfiles/.git/config and change the repository URL to git@super_secret_url/dotfiles.git. So every subsequent pull and push will require no password. And to “install” these dotfiles, I do [6]:
$ pip install dotfiles
$ dotfiles -s --force
Note: the dotfiles command finds my dotfiles in the default directory “Dotfiles” and create symbolic links to them.
Distribute & Pip
Homebrew’s Python includes pip, but even if it didn’t:
$ curl -O http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
$ /usr/local/bin/python distribute_setup.py
$ {easy_install, pip install} dotfiles
In other words, you can always install Distribute [4]. After which you can use easy_install or pip to install dotfiles. (You can read up on the differences. TL;DR: neither is “better” or “worse”, it’s just a question of which tradeoffs you are willing to make. I tend to use pip just because it’s newer and I like its requirements.txt feature, but easy_install is still very well supported as part of the Distribute project.)
Checkoutmanager
Now I need some things to develop. Since I work on a bunch of different projects, I need a way to keep track of what should be checked out at any given time. So I do this [5]:
$ pip install checkoutmanager
$ checkoutmanager co
This creates and populates my ~/Developer directory with code. And it “just works” because I keep a .checkoutmanager.cfg in my Dotfiles repository. It currently looks like this:
[aclark]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/aclark
checkouts =
git@github.com:aclark4life/aclark4life.github.com.git resume
git@github.com:aclark4life/desktops.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/hireme.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/projects.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/reinstall.git
git@github.com:ACLARKNET/tweets.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/usesthis.git
vcs = git
[alt]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/alt
checkouts =
git@github.com:alt-aclark-net/alt-aclark-net.github.com.git
git@github.com:alt-aclark-net/dexter.git
git@github.com:alt-aclark-net/headstraight.git
vcs = git
[buildout]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/buildout
checkouts =
git@github.com:collective/buildout.bootstrap.git
git@github.com:buildout/buildout.git
git@github.com:buildout/buildout.github.com.git
vcs = git
[distribute]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer
checkouts = ssh://hg@bitbucket.org/tarek/distribute
vcs = hg
[clients]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer
checkouts =
; Bunch o client repos
vcs = git
[clients-hg]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer
checkouts =
; Bunch o client repos
vcs = hg
[dcpython]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/dcpython
checkouts =
git@github.com:DCPython/dcpython.github.com.git
git@github.com:DCPython/pyramid-tutorials.git
vcs = git
[misc]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer
checkouts =
git@github.com:ACLARKNET/aclarknet.github.com.git blog
git@github.com:ACLARKNET/new_style.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/binfiles.git
; git@github.com:aclark4life/pyramid_python_3.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/vanity.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/zope2-heroku.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/zope2_bootstrap.git
git@github.com:codekoala/django-axes.git
git@github.com:collective/buildout.python
vcs = git
[pillow]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/pillow
checkouts =
git@github.com:python-imaging/Pillow.git
git@github.com:python-imaging/python-imaging.github.com.git
vcs = git
[plethorasociety]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/plethorasociety
checkouts =
git@github.com:plethorasociety/plethorasociety.github.com.git
vcs = git
[plone]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/plone
checkouts =
git@github.com:aclark4life/Plone-Debug-Assistant.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/collective.recipe.bluebream.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/event_days_indexer.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/hello_plone.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/mr_migrator_demo.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/parse2plone.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/plone_1_fun.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/plone_addon_upgrade.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/plone_guide.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/plone_workflow_events.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/schemaextender-facetednav-demo.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/silly_content_import.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/transmogrify.extract.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/transmogrify.regexp.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/viewlets_dont_suck.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/wordpress2plone.git
git@github.com:collective/Products.AttachmentField.git
git@github.com:collective/Products.CalendarX.git
git@github.com:collective/Products.EventRegistration.git
git@github.com:collective/Products.PloneSoftwareCenter.git
git@github.com:collective/Products.ifQuotes.git
git@github.com:collective/Products.naked_plone.git
git@github.com:collective/buildout.plonetest.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.contacts.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.controlpanel.edit_css.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.developermanual.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.formtoy.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.github.com.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.googleanalytics.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.package.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.project.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.recaptcha.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.recipe.grp.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.recipe.rsync.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.rip.git
git@github.com:collective/collective.stats.git
git@github.com:collective/funnelweb.git
git@github.com:collective/github-collective.git
git@github.com:collective/mr.migrator.git
git@github.com:collective/plonecom-buildout.git
git@github.com:collective/plonecom.theme.git
git@github.com:collective/plonetheme.coolblue.git
git@github.com:collective/plonetheme.freshpick.git
git@github.com:collective/plonetheme.grungeera.git
git@github.com:collective/plonetheme.keepitsimple.git
git@github.com:collective/plonetheme.unilluminated.git
git@github.com:collective/transmogrify.filesystem.git
git@github.com:plone/Installers-OS-X.git
git@github.com:plone/Products.PloneOrg.git
git@github.com:plone/admin-docs.git
git@github.com:plone/buildout.coredev.git
git@github.com:plone/planet.plone.org.git
git@github.com:plone/plone.api.git
git@github.com:plone/plone.github.com.git
git@github.com:plone/ploneorg.admin.git
git@github.com:plone/plonetheme.ploneorg.git
vcs = git
[pythonpackages]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/pythonpackages
checkouts =
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-apache-mysql.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-munin.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-mysql.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-nginx.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-plone-haproxy.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-plone-varnish.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/buildout-zenoss.git
git@bitbucket.org:pythonpackages/pythonpackages.com.git vanity_app
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-apache-modwsgi.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-bluebream.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-django.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-jenkins.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-plone-getpaid.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-plone.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-wordpress.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/buildout-zope2.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/experimental.pythonpackages.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/github-services.git pythonpackages-github-services
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pyramidpypi.git pythonpackages-index
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages-blog.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages-docs.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages-graphs.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages-paste.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages-scaffolds.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages.sendpickedversions.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages-whiskers.git
git@github.com:pythonpackages/pythonpackages.git
vcs = git
[toys]
basedir = /Users/aclark/Developer/toys
checkouts =
git@github.com:aclark4life/basic_pyramid_zodb.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/github_repos_cloner.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/other.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/python_study.git
git@github.com:aclark4life/django-hello.git
vcs = git
Now it’s time to bootstrap the Collective Python Buildout, which gives me all versions of Python, ever [7]. And off we go:
$ cd Developer/buildout.python
$ python bootstrap.py
Finally, there is some PATH configuration required to make all of this seemless. The Collective Python Buildout gets installed in /opt while brew’s stuff is in /usr/local. My PATH config currently looks like this:
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/Users/aclark/Developer/buildout.python/python-2.7/bin:$PATH
export PATH=~/Developer/binfiles:/usr/local/share/npm/bin:$PATH
With the above configuration, I default to the Python 2.7 in the Collective Python Buildout. That means that is the “python” or “virtualenv” I get when I type those commands. I use the full path or expanded binary name when I need them e.g. /usr/local/bin/python or python3.3.
That’s it! I hope you will check out dotfiles and checkoutmanager for all your development needs.
| [1] | Not really an ode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode |
| [2] | I know about Kenneth Reitz’s XCode Command line Tools only, but if I recall correctly there is some “gotcha” that has bitten me more than once if I use that instead of the full XCode. I wish I could remember what it was now, but it’s not coming to me. If it works for you though, great! |
| [3] | I know about the system Python, and for small things like checkoutmanager and dotfiles I don’t mind using it. But there is merit in avoiding it because Apple treats it like “their” Python and makes decisions for you that you may prefer to make yourself. E.g. I believe they use a crippled version of the readline library. |
| [4] | Distribute is a more actively maintained fork of the venerable setuptools library (which itself is built on top of the Python standard library’s distutils). Are we having fun yet? |
| [5] | I also alias checkoutmanager to cm |
| [6] | I force because I want to replace the newly created .ssh dir with the one I keep in my Dotfiles repository. |
| [7] | Well, 2.4 through 3.3 at last count. |