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Ok, so there’s a quirk in Mac OS X (el cap, at least) that if you install a mozilla product (or, probably, anything else) from the internet as one administrator, but don’t open them up and clear the Gatekeeper dialogs, then log out and log in as another user, the standard dialog noting that they are internet applications will persist. In other words, every single time the user who did not install the application opens it up, they’ll get a dialog box saying “This application is from the internet, are you sure…” yada yada yada. It’s annoying for them.

The solution is to log in as the original user, and launch the application, to clear the dialogs. The xattr trick doesn’t work here, for reasons unbeknownst to me. But in case you’re searching the web and it comes up, I hope this helps.

You could also try installing as the current user, if the permissions are sufficient.

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So, our infrastructure and communications teams just took us through a migration of our email system.

They did a fine job, but there were some bumps in the road. Most of the time, when you migrate email servers, it’s not too big of a deal; you’re in control of the machines, and you’re going to have fallovers and failsafes, etc.

However, note that from a user’s perspective, changing MX records and the intricacies of the DNS system are deep fu. So just try to make those changes on Sunday at 1 a.m. Trust me, it’s best that this is happening while everyone is sleeping, because the fewer conversations you have to have about DNS propagation & replication, the happier you will be.

There are other lessons that we learned, but that is the most important one.

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Emacs on OS X El Cap is version 22. MacPorts version is 24.

$ sudo port install emacs

then

$ cd ~
$ emacs .bash_profile

paste in:
# Use the up-to-date MacPorts emacs
alias emacs='/opt/local/bin/emacs'
# For our chording coding friends
export EDITOR=/opt/local/bin/emacs

you’re done. Consider portsUpdate to keep it up-to-date daily.

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MacPorts current vim is 7.4 and the version shipping with El Capitan is 7.3.

So…

$ sudo port install vim

then

$ cd ~
$ vim .bash_profile

paste in:
# Use the up-to-date MacPorts vim
alias='/opt/local/bin/vim'
# Life is good, so is vi
export EDITOR=/opt/local/bin/vim

you’re done. Consider portsUpdate to keep it up-to-date daily.

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