Mac Users who previously avoided CF because there was no Mac solution

CF Users, for whom the Mac was not a viable platform

CF users who are new to CFMX (almost everybody)

The port is not difficult, but involves a lot of complex technology:

CF MX

JRun

Java

XML

Linux/Unix

Shell Scripts

Virtual PC Emulation

RDBMS Systems -- Pointbase, MySQL, PostgreSQL

Mac OS X

It is frustrating from my perspective, too. While you, and others, may have sufficient expertise in *all* the prerequisite technology, many do not! This includes myself -- I had to learn or brush up on many of these technologies in order to do the port.

So, we have a goal (a target audience to reach) and some complex prerequisite knowledge. It is very likely that any given member of the audience will *not* have *all* the prerequisite knowledge. It is also likely, that different people will be lacking *different* prerequisites.

How do we reach the largest possible audience, and (I say: "and") provide a usable solution to them *all*?

We decided on a 4-part series -- to properly lay the groundwork and develop the topic for the target audience.

I trust that, if you think about it, you'll agree that this is the best approach!

That said, where does the expert Mac/CF user go to get answers?

The topic was initially discussed on the forums during the CFMX beta test.

It has been discussed at some length on the CF-Talk mailing list and, lately the CF-Linux mailing list.

Both lists are available at http://www.houseoffusion.com

The CF-Talk list has been in existence for years, and in the opinion of many, it is the best source of breaking CF information and technical CF discussions.

Here is part of a recent post I made to the CF-Linux list (assumes the reader has all of the prerequisite knowledge).

!. Install the CF Linux Trial on RH Linux 7.2 (native Linux Box or VPC emulation)

Use all default options except the install path should be

/home/coldfusionmx/

2. Targzip the /home tree

3. Copy the targzip file to Mac OS X

4. Expand the targzip at /

5. Modify the /bin/coldfusion shell script to

Point to Mac JVM instead of installed JVM

Modify CLASSPATH and environment variables for OS X

Launch /home/coldfusionmx/lib/cfusion.jar

6. Modify /home/coldfusionmx/runtime/bin/jvm.config similar to 5

7. Move any needed (Non CFMX ) jdbc drivers to /Library/Java/Extensions

8. Start any db servers needed

9. Run the modified shell script

10. Access the default server with localhost:8500

I hope this helps, and that you will find that remaining articles meet the objective.

Dick