[Owncloud] OSX Support

[Renato Grüner]

> From: Michael <mike at draftx.net>
> 
> It looks like there is a way to spin up a VM of OSX:
> http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/
> I didn't fully read that though :-)

Afaik, running OSX on non-Apple hardware (no matter if native or as a VM guest) is still an EULA violation and not really recommended... ;)

> From: Bernhard Posselt <dev at bernhard-posselt.com>
> 
> My personal opinion is that you should not use MacOS as a server OS. Why
> not take any Linux distribution which is basically just a flavor of
> MacOS and use that to run ownCloud?

Sure, an additional Linux environment (eg. on a free Virtual Box VM) is possible anytime anyway - but it needs additional resources etc. 
Being able to set it up within a pure-MacOS environment just would be more lean and clean...

But I agree with you that if there is no chance to reliably supporting MacOS on the server side, it'll be better to draw the curtain over it… - 

> I think for MacOS support we'd need to find a developer who is willing
> to support it and since MacOS is very expensive (you have to buy the
> overprized hardware too) I doubt that there are a lot of ownCloud devs
> who are willing to do this.

Yep - Mac Hardware isn't cheap. But worth every cent… :-):

Macs indeed have the image of being overpriced, but I personally have made opposed experiences multiple times!

Best value for the money you still get with the iMac; the MacOS and dev tools come "out of the box"  at no extra cost.
Ttaking into account quality and furnishing as well, an iMac is absolutely competitive. 

I believe a Mac can definitely be an economic base for a developer, even in a multi OS environment: On the Mac, you get (free) VM and/or multi-boot facilities as well, 
so you can set up multiple Linux, Windows etc. guest machines on the Mac Hardware; Macs have an exemplary energy efficiency (so they amortize just by energy cost :) ), 
and finally they have a very stable value: I never sold my old Macs for less than 50% of the initial cost (after 3-4 years - a period where you'd carry a "normal" PC hardware to the recycling station)...


Cheers, 
Renato

> On 09/26/2013 08:32 PM, RGR wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> on the ownCloud 6 main features' list, I'm heavily missing the
> reintroduction of the OSX Server Support:
>> 
>> It's a pity that you have (understandably) been forced to temporarily
> de-supporting OSX as a server platform,
>> but I strongly believe it is very important to work on this issue
>> 
>> not least because of the users'  creditability in the excellence of
> the development team:
>> 
>> Everyone knows that OSX finally is "only a Unix dialect" with any
> required components (Apache, PHP etc.) being shipped "out of the OSX box",
>> so will be difficult to continuously justifying that it's the fault of
> OSX (and its strange unicode handling)?
>> 
>> I would really like to supporting to findi a solution or at least
> workaround,
>> but unfortunately, I'm not experienced enough in PHP, Unicode etc. ---
> if there's anything I could contribute in terms of "basic research", pls
> let me know...
>> 
>> 
>> (Besides that, I'm running an OSX Server for other purposes and would
> really love to being able again
>> to implementing an ownCloud instance there without ballasting it with
> a Linux VM!)
>> 
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Renato