You may use TeXmacs on the MacOS-X platform using Fink. The Fink project wants to bring the full world of Unix Open Source software to Darwin and MacOS-X. In order to install TeXmacs, you should therefore first install Fink and next TeXmacs.

A possible alternative for Fink is Macports, which also provides a TeXmacs package.

1.Install Fink via its binary installer

Download the Fink installer from the Fink download page and run it following the instructions (steps 1 and further) on that page.

2.Install FinkCommander

You can run Fink from the command line, but for newcomers it is recommended to use the graphical interface provided by FinkCommander. FinkCommander is included in the Fink installer as explained on the Fink download page.

3.Check the prerequisites

You now need to decide whether you want to install the precompiled binary of TeXmacs or whether you want to compile it from source. If you want to have the very latest version of TeXmacs, then you should compile from source. In this case, continue at step 6. The next thing to check is whether you already have teTeX and/or X11 installed. If you don't, then continue at step 4.

If you have Gerben Wierda's teTeX installed, you need to tell Fink about it by installing the very small system-tetex package. Start FinkCommander, select the system-tetex package from the package list, and choose the Binary->Install menu option.

Make sure that you have Apple's X11 installed. For MacOS X 10.2 you will have to install X11 from Fink. Useful information about X11 in combination with Fink is provided on the the Fink download page.

4.Install the TeXmacs binary package

In order to install the binary version of TeXmacs, start FinkCommander, select texmacs in the package list, and choosing the Binary->Install menu option. Fink will now proceed to download and install a number of packages needed for TeXmacs, including, if you didn't have them yet, tetex and xfree86. Finally it will install texmacs. All this should run automatically.

5.Running TeXmacs

In order to run TeXmacs, launch Terminal.app from /Applications/Utilities and type

    open-x11 texmacs &

Please let us know if you like or dislike the program. It is very useful for us to have a rough idea about the number of permanent users and for what applications you are interested in TeXmacs. Furthermore, we are glad to receive your suggestions and problems, no matter how silly they may seem to you. You may also suscribe to the texmacs-users or texmacs-info mailing lists. If you really like the program, then please consider donating money or services to us. Of course, you may also contribute yourself.

6.Installing TeXmacs from source

If you want to compile TeXmacs from source, you first need to make sure that you have the Developer Tools installed. They are included on the Mac OS X install CD/DVD. If you cannot use these, you need to create a (free) ADC membership and download and install the Developer Tools.

Next you need to activate the unstable tree in your fink directory. You can do this from the FinkCommander Preferences. Then run selfupdate-cvs from the Source menu.

In case you have teTeX and/or X11 installed from somewhere else than fink, you first need to install the system-tetex and/or the system-xfree86 packages. You can do this from FinkCommander.

In order to install TeXmacs, run FinkCommander, select texmacs from the file list, and run Source->Install. Fink will proceed to download the sources of TeXmacs and its supporting packages and compile and install them. You may run TeXmacs as explained in step 5.