Hi, Its over a year and 3 updates since the last OS X version was released.
Why has the Inkscape team given up on OS X?

Inkscape is one of the best Open Source apps out there. I'd really, really hate to see it leave OS X.

the latest release is available for OS X according to

http://inkscape.org/download/?lang=en

Stable release 0.48.2 intended for production use is available:

Source Tarball — .gz See README to install, or CompilingInkscape for troubleshooting help.
Source Tarball Bzip — .bz2 See README to install, or CompilingInkscape for troubleshooting help.
Ubuntu Software Centre has a one-click install for Inkscape.
Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard — Universal .dmg (requires Apple's X11/Xquartz 2.3.4 or higher)
Windows — installer, portable, 7zip
OSS-Marketplace.com

no nightly builds though.

Seems to me the development has slowed down in general recently. Could be time to get stuck in helping?

I thought latest stable was 0.48.4 ? at http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscap ... /inkscape/

generatemutate wrote:Could be time to get stuck in helping?

If only I had half a clue how to code.
I didn't mean my original post to be whinging [looking back at it it might be read that way].

I've been keeping an eye on the sourceforge site and every so often there has been windows and linux updates but nothing for OS X (since 0.48.2). It kind of seems like OS X has been dropped. Its hard to find anything explaining why win/linux are getting updates on sorceforge but not OS X.

This probably really shows my ignorance, but I'll ask it any way. I thought that OS X and Linux, both being based on Unix would be able to more-or-less share the source code. Or at least, share significant portions of it, and hence there'd be a workload saving? Am I right in thinking that?

If you look on various places not least on the Inkscape home page you will see a longstanding request for Mac programmers to help with the creation of Mac versions. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of volunteers. I don't have any recent knowledge of MacOS but isn't there a bootcamp or something that will let you run windows/linux software on your Apple machine?? You might have to buy the Windows OS but the Linux will always be free....

druban wrote:If you look on ... on the Inkscape home page you will see a longstanding request for Mac programmers

I don't know where you see it, but I can't see anything on http://inkscape.org/ about OS X developer's in short supply

druban wrote: You might have to buy the Windows OS but the Linux will always be free....

I do like the idea of moving to Linux, a lot. Especially the way Mountain Lion is inch by inch corralling us like cattle down an iOS/iCloud/Gatekeeper/AppStore future.

I'm really not sure I have the technical ability to move to Linux. Whats more I know I don't have the time- I'm still picking up the pieces after upgrading to Mountain Lion form Snow Leopard.

But back to the original post it seems the answer is no OS X developers?

Rig Out wrote:But back to the original post it seems the answer is no OS X developers?

I thought that was the problem but i could not find the request for Mac developers either so i guess that's good news for Macusers, that they have enough developers now and you should be seeing new versions coming out speedily.

This was posted on the main page

News
The Inkscape Community Announces 0.48.4 Release
December 22, 2012

Happy Holidays! We have a gift for everyone!

After quite a while since our last announced release (sorry about that, there was a lot of confusion surrounding it, and I fully accept responsibility for that), the Inkscape Community is proud to announce that Inkscape 0.48.4 is out. This is our fourth bug fix release for 0.48 and since we won't count the last one, it contains ~120 bug fixes to improve security, stability, and functionality on all platforms since 0.48.2. Check out the 0.48.3 release notes & 0.48.4 release notes for brief summaries of some of the fixes and improvements, or the 0.48.3 milestone page & 0.48.4 milestone page for the full lists of closed bug reports, or just jump right to downloading your package for Windows or Linux.

At this time we also need to apologize that we are not officially packaging builds for OSX. This was the primary reason that 0.48.3 never saw an official announcement. Please know that we are still actively working on making the experience on the OSX platform better and are working towards native builds (no promises of if/when any will be available.) As a side note, MacPorts does already have 0.48.4 available, so a portion of our Mac users are not left out in the cold.

At this point it is very possible that we will have one more point release for 0.48 as we have a handful of bugs blocking us from releasing 0.49 (it will be well worth the wait!). Stay tuned for more news!

Not really sure what that means. Its a bit cryptic.
"...no promises of if ... any will be available" doesn't sound too hopeful

The Inkscape download page says 0.48.4 but it still links to the old 0.48.2 file.
I can't see the request for OS X developers on the Inkscape site either.
I really hope some OS X developers will join in.

Happy New Year Inkscape

The announcement is a bit confusing. It starts off promising:

"…proud to announce that Inkscape 0.48.4 is out…it contains ~120 bug fixes to improve security, stability, and functionality on all platforms since 0.48.2."

But further down it goes on to exclude OS X:

we also need to apologize that we are not officially packaging builds for OSX

So I guess all platforms doesn't include OS X

Jmx wrote:The Inkscape download page says 0.48.4 but it still links to the old 0.48.2 file.

All the links I've tried go to the right place, i.e. 0.48.4. Whick link(s) did you try?

Maybe only links for Mac versions still go to 0.48.2 because that's still the stable release for Macs?

One think I'm not clear about, from the announcement on inkscape.org. Can Inkscape still be compiled for Macs? Or....actually I'm not sure what the right word is. I understand that what prevented 0.48.3 being available for Mac users, is that they didn't have anyone to take the raw code and make it automatically installable on Macs. Anyway, do they need to do their thing before Inkscape can be compiled on a Mac? Or can Inkscape be compiled for Macs with whatever is currently available?

Ooohh wait....after a quick search, I guess that sounds like what Macports does exactly??

regarding trying Linux, it may be possible to install Linux on your computer and keep Os X too - this is called dual booting - you choose Os X or Linux at boot up-
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linux/articles/34826.aspx

or maybe try Puppy Linux and boot off a USB stick. (looks like Mac intel x86 architecture rather than PowerPC is easier)
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/UnetBootin

About trying Linux:
Many Linux distributions produce a Live cd, or dvd that lets you try the new O.S. without installing anything.
You can look around, and try out the default applications, but you cant save anything you create, or install software.
It's a nice way to get a general idea what will work "out-of-the-box' With your hardware, and take a look at user interfaces.
I love my Linux, and that is how I tried it out for the first time.
The install disc ISO for Linux Mint creates a Live cd/dvd.
You can learn more about it here: http://www.linuxmint.com/
Linux makes a lot of things very easy, like getting and installing most software, but you will miss out on some of the great apps you can get easily for Mac.
(like commercial 3d games, and some Proprietary graphics applications) and.....no matter what OS you choose, you may occassionally have to download source code and compile it yourself to get the latest build of an Open source program that you love.

For OSX you should still be able to download the source code for the latest Inkscape, and compile it yourself, following the instructions in the wiki.
http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/CompilingMacOsX Or go ahead and use macports, which does have the latest release available at the moment.
Check the website at Macports.org if you dont already have it installed, to find out more about it.

Basically what's needed is a guy with a Mac and the ability to run the makefile to create a binary for the Mac. I personally never liked the vendor lock in that Apple has been playing since ever, so no Macs for me. Well,.. and the shuffle puck mouse

Problem seems to be that there are so few technical Mac users willing, competent or with enough time (it's more than just pushing a button mind you) to compile binaries that it stalled the release of 48.3 for more than half a year and they now just skipped that for the 48.4 release.

You should be able to create a dual boot Mac with Linux, or run a VM on your MacOS with a Linux running Inkscape on it. Now idea how well that would work performance wise though. Booting a Linux on a USB stick is possible as well. An *GB stick would do for Linux and about every imaginable application, if you have a harddisk partion for your data. USB stick can easily get damaged though, so better make a back-up copy of the whole thing once you created it.

I've been testing the nightly builds as well for windows and can't wait till 0.49 really.. That seems to be more a question of the Cairo renderer catching up as downsized bitmaps get f'd up by it. Some really cool stuff in it and much faster.

Thanks for the help guys. I have tried a Live CD of Ubuntu. And was looking at trying a dual boot but got scared off by an EFI boot loader thingy [?] I had to install first and also cause its supposed to be quite difficult to retrieve the disk space used by the Linux partition if you want to remove it.

Another reason I haven't taken the jump is the Linux flavor that best suits me, Ubuntu, has created a bit of a concern for me with the new search feature that includes Amazon results in your desktop searches. I know it can be switched off but It's giving me reason for concern about where Canonical is heading with Ubuntu.

I'm not so sure I'd miss any Mac apps. Now that I think about it I mainly use OpenSource apps all the time Firefox, Inkscape, The GIMP, LibreOffice, Avidemux.

I haven't ever used iPhoto cause I was always a cautious of vendor lock in. I Never use iTunes.

I would possibly miss Garageband for the odd time that I hook up a guitar to it. But since updating to Mountain Lion it keeps crashing so its pretty much gone anyway.

The only other thing I may miss is TextEdit. I [foolishly] use its rtfd file type to save loads of notes, and bits. Its basically an rtf file but with photos. I don't think anything on Linux can open them.

Anyway.. back to the issue at hand

Jelle wrote:Basically what's needed is a guy with a Mac and the ability to run the makefile to create a binary for the Mac.

Thats what I was thinking - the developers are producing the up to date source code for OSX but just not compiling it.
That seems crazy, but I think its true.

It's incredible that there isn't a single person on earth with a mac, an interest in Inkscape and the ability to compile it. Surely the developers who are keeping the OS X source code up to date have a mac, the interest and the ability?

I'll take a look at whats involved but I am fairly certain its way, way beyond me.

Some progress is being made on the Mac OSX front, but it's been a struggle for years unfortunately. I guess it's both because it's just plain difficult, and because most of the Inkscape devs are using Windows and Linux

For the latest details, see e.g. this very recent discussion on the mailing list: http://inkscape.13.n6.nabble.com/Mac-OS ... 65851.html. Don't get too enthousiastic yet though!

Also some info here: http://inkscape.org/ Note the part about Macports

dvlierop wrote:For the latest details, see e.g. this very recent discussion on the mailing list: http://inkscape.13.n6.nabble.com/Mac-OS ... 65851.html. Don't get too enthousiastic yet though!

That's very promising
Thanks.

(It also confirms that I haven't a hope in hell of compiling it myself - most of that stuff is going way over my head)

I was able to successfully build Inkscape 0.48.4 r9939 (Feb 28 2013) on OS X 10.7.5 using Fink and Find Commander which installed all dependents. However when using it to open an existing .wmf file I get the following error:


Fink Commander shows that PIL is installed. Anyone have any idea why?

That's very promising
Thanks.