An introduction to MacLibre (OS X)

by Ross McKillop on September 8, 2006

Mac

This tutorial will guide you in using MacLibre, an Open Source (free) tool that allows you to easily download and install other Open Source programs. MacLibre is particularly helpful when you get a new Mac (or wipe your existing Mac clean and start over again), as it makes installing many programs at once a snap, saving you the time of going to each individual web site and finding the files manually..

Start by downloading and installing MacLibre itself, from http://www.maclibre.com/downloads (save the file to your desktop, double-click the .dmg once the download is complete, and drag MacLibre to your Applications folder to install).

After you’ve installed MacLibre, launch it from your Applications folder. You’ll be prompted with a “welcome” window - click Next to continue


maclibre
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The left column contains a list of categories - double-click one of the categories to see which applications it contains. If you single-click one of the application names you’ll get a summary of that program in the right window. Double-click an application name and it will be marked to install. After you’ve reviewed each of the programs and marked the ones you want to install, click Next to continue.


maclibre
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Enter your password (if required) and click Next to continue


maclibre
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MacLibre will now start to download and install the programs you selected


maclibre
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Once the Overall progress reaches 100%, click Next to continue


maclibre
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Make sure to leave Delete cached files on exit checked, and MacLibre will “clean up” after itself once you click Finish


maclibre
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That’s it, you’re done! You can start playing with the newly installed programs :)

Note: MacLibre can also be used to update or re-install existing programs. If you’re not running the latest version of a program that MacLibre supports, just select it as you would any other program, and that program will be udpated.

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