I had the pleasure of talking with the always amazing hosts of the MacAdmins Podcast and now you can listen to it!
MacAdmins Podcast: What are you doing with your COVID time? Writing books I see!
Many thanks for having me on! If this whets your appetite, you can get the book “macOS Terminal and Shell” here.
I have pushed an update for the “Moving to zsh” book.
Since I have also published a new book “macOS Terminal and Shell” last month, you might be wondering whether you need both books, or just one.
“Moving to zsh” is the book where I documented my journey from using bash in Terminal on macOS to using zsh. Before Apple announced that they would switch from bash to zsh as the default shell with macOS Catalina, I used bash “because it was the deafult.” In this book, I describe how to move from bash to zsh. Because of this, “Moving to zsh” is aimed at a user who is already conformtable using Terminal with bash and is wondering what the change means and how to get some extra features and productivity out of zsh.
“macOS Terminal and Shell” is the book for those that have no or little experience with using Terminal and probably don’t even know why bash or zsh matters. Or maybe you have a bit experience, but just don’t feel comfortable because you have the feeling you are not quite understanding what is going on. This book will teach you to use Terminal and the shell with confidence, and it will show how you can configure it to be more productive. Since zsh is the current default shell on macOS Catalina and Big Sur, we will focus on zsh, but explain differences to bash where necessary.
As usual, the update to “Moving to zsh” is free if you have already purchased the book. You should get a notification from the Books application to update. (On macOS, I have seen that it can help to delete the local download of the book to force the update.)
If you are enjoying the book, please rate it on the Books store, or even leave a review. These really help, thank you!
The changes are listed here. This list is also in the ‘Version History’ section in the book. There, you will get links to the relevant section of the book, so you can find the changes quickly.
There are a bunch a questions I get… well… frequently about my books and I finally built a FAQ page for them:
If this does not answer your all questions, then feel free to get in touch!
I have pushed an update for the “Moving to zsh” book.
Just a few changes and fixes that have accumulated over the past two weeks. Much of this has been from feedback of readers. Thanks to everyone who sent in their notes.
The update is free if you have already purchased the book. You should get a notification from the Books application to update. (On macOS, I have seen that it can help to delete the local download of the book to force the update.)
If you are enjoying the book, please rate it on the Books store, or (even better) leave a review. These really help, thank you!
Also, please recommend the book to friends, co-workers, and anyone else (not just MacAdmins) who might be facing the zsh transition as they upgrade to Catalina.
The changes in v3 are listed here. This list is also in the ‘Version History’ section in the book. There, you will get links to the relevant section of the book, so you can find the changes quickly.
read built-in commandI have pushed an update for the “Moving to zsh” book.
The book is barely two weeks out but I had a few more things to add. The nice thing about self-published digital books is that they can updated quickly and often. I expect more updates over time as I continue to learn more about the subject.
As usual, the update is free when you already own the book.
If you have already purchased the book, you can go to Apple Books application on your Mac and choose ‘Check for available Downloads…’ from the ‘Store’ menu. I have seen the Mac Books app be really slow (or even completely blind) in picking up updates, you can accelerate the process by removing the local download and re-downloading the book. In iOS tap on your iCloud account icon next to ‘Reading Now’ and then choose ‘Updates.’
If you have not yet purchased the book, go get it on Apple Books!
The changes are listed here, but you can also them in the ‘Version History’ section in the book. There it links to the relevant section of the book, so you can find the changes quickly.
is-at-least and updated ‘Sharing across macOS and zsh versions,’ accordinglyzmvPATH variable up-to-date across multiple shellsIf yo have read and enjoyed the book, please leave a review on the Apple Books store!
It is Thanksgiving week in the US, which means that all real-world and online retailers are luring buyers with all kinds of crazy sales.
Here at Scripting OS X, I keep the book prices low all year round. My latest book “Moving to zsh” is US$9.99 all the time.
I also just permanently lowered the price on “macOS Installation.”
Nevertheless, starting today and up to Dec 3, I will also put “Packaging for Apple Administrators” and “Property Lists, Preferences, and Profiles for Apple Administrators” on sale!
And not just for US readers, but on all regions where the books are available in the Apple Books store!
Happy Thanksgiving!
My new book: “Moving to zsh” is now available on the Apple Books Store!
The book should be useful for anyone who uses macOS Terminal and is wondering what the change of the default shell in Catalina means and how to best handle the transition. The book describes the motivation for Apple (and the user) to “move to zsh” and how to get the most out of the new shell.
It is based on the series of blog posts that I posted from June through August, but reworked and expanded with more detail and more topics. Some of the information from my MacSysAdmin presentation also made it into the book.
The blog series added up to about 11K words, and the book, in its current form, is more than 22K words. Compared to the series, I have added images, movies, clarifications, more examples, and several new sections and appendices.
This books explains:
– why Apple is changing the shell
– implications for infrequent and expert Terminal users
– how to move from bash to zsh
– configuring zsh to be more productive
– moving scripts from bash to zsh
And this will certainly not be the end for “Moving to zsh.” Like my other books, I plan to update and add to it after release as well, keeping it relevant and useful.
This is my first book that is not targeted mainly at MacAdmins. I believe this book will be useful for any Mac user that uses the Terminal frequently: Developers, web admins, scientists, and other power users. Please help spread the news by sharing this post and the book link with friends, co-workers, and across social media. Thank you!
Go get “Moving to zsh” on the Apple Books Store!
There is a new update to my book “macOS Installation!”
It contains lots of updates regarding Catalina, and the usual list of typos and other fixes.
As usual, the update is free when you already own the book.
If you have already purchased the book, you can go to Apple Books application on your Mac and choose ‘Check for available Downloads…’ from the ‘Store’ menu. I have seen the Mac Books app be really slow (or even completely blind) in picking up updates, you can accelerate the process by removing the local download and re-downloading the book. In iOS tap on your iCloud account icon next to ‘Reading Now’ and then choose ‘Updates.’
If you have not yet purchased the book, I have good news for you: I have lowered the price!
Why did I lower the price? Let me explain…
This is the fourth update for “macOS Installation.” It might be its last.
When I first published the book in June 2018, I promised updates until the Mojave release. There have now been two updates beyond that: one for the Mojave “Spring” update, and another one for Catalina.
The format of the book had the original intention to help MacAdmins learn about and deal with the strange, new post-imaging world that came with the High Sierra and T2 Security chip. I like to believe it did that quite well. But since then, the releases of Mojave and Catalina have added more layers of complexity and information on top of that.
The post-imaging world isn’t new anymore. It is still strange, complicated, and sometimes hard to navigate. However, I feel that the book’s format would have to change to keep being a useful guide. Obviously, such a re-structuring is a massive effort and would pretty much result in a new book. Maintaining and updating a book is a lot of effort, re-writing it even more so.
Thus the decision that this might be last update for “macOS Installation.” Depending on how disruptive the changes in the Catalina “spring” update will be, I might update for those, but I am not planning to update the book for 10.16 next year.
I might work on some new book on macOS deployment and management in the future. However, I have a few other topics I want to publish before I do that, so that might be a while.
Charles Edge’s and Rich Trouton’s new book should be a great successor to “macOS Installation”:
“macOS Installation” should remain useful for the life time of Catalina, which, depending on your deployment practices should be another one to four years, more if 10.16 and 10.17 do not drastically change everything again.
Readers who bought the book 16 months ago got several updates for free. I believe free updates are one of the great value propositions of self-published digital books. Most computer related information changes quickly these days and being able to update digital books is a great way to extend their lifetime, usefulness, and value.
My plan to not further update for “macOS Installation” thus lowers its value a bit, and to reflect that I am lowering its price in the store.
That said, I am convinced the book is still very helpful and full of useful information as it is, so if you have not bought the book yet, this is your chance!
Changes in this version (you can also find this in the book in the ‘Version History’ section):
You might have seen this coming. My next book will be called “Moving to zsh” and will cover the new default shell on macOS and how to switch to it from bash.
It is based on the series of blog posts that I posted from June through August, but reworked and expanded with more detail and more topics. Like my other books, I plan to update and add to it after release as well, keeping it relevant and useful.
The book is progressing nicely, but not yet ready. I have put it up for pre-order on the Apple Books Store.
There is a lot of interest on the topic since the release of Catalina and I wanted to let everyone know, that after the blog series, a hands-on training class, and my presentation at MacSysAdmin, I still have more to add to the topic. I set the expected release date to December 31, 2019. “Before the end of the year.” (Like the Mac Pro.) I have hope that it will be done sooner than that, but we will see.
When I have more information, you will, as always, read about it here.
I have updated my book “Packaging for Apple Administrators”!
It contains lots of fixes, some new parts and updates with regards to macOS Catalina.
This book is now nearly three years old and if you bought it at the very beginning you have gotten eight updates for free!
(Historic sidenote: v1.1 was just a quick fix to remove some placeholder text, so that was the first version on the iBooks Store.)
If you have already purchased the book, you can go to Apple Books application on your Mac and choose ‘Check for available Downloads…’ from the ‘Store’ menu. In iOS tap on your iCloud account icon next to ‘Reading Now’ and then choose ‘Updates.’
Changes in this version (you can also find this in the book in the ‘Version History’ section):
spkg command line tool for Suspicious PackagezshGo get it in the Books store!