GIMP 2.8 has arrived

GIMP (GNU IMAGE) 2.8 is here.

It just occurred to me the other day that GIMP was working on 2.8. I thought I would like to check it out.  When I got there (www.gimp.org), it is there.

I like the single view mode (under menu Windows, Single-Window-Mode).  It solved the only complaint I had with GIMP in the past. That is to click twice in order to re-focus on the other window when switching between tool/editor/layer windows.

I have not checked out what else is new in it. GIMP is one of a few open source projects I appreciated and used frequently. I would expect to continue creating a lot of digital assets from GIMP for my iPhone app projects.

Update xcodebuild path

The installation directory of Apple's IDE, Xcode, moved from /Developer to /Applications starting version 4.3.1. It caused some glitches for tools, such as xcodebuild, if invoked as a command-line utility.

To point it to the new installation base, use
sudo /usr/bin/xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app/

Verify the change with
/usr/bin/xcode-select -print-path

Hostname on Mac OS X

If the dynamic hostname is provided by DHCP, and you prefer a fixed one, there are a few ways to do it.

From System Preferences/Network

• Select the network adapter which interfaces the DHCP server.
• Click on the "Advanced" button on the lower right.
• In the TCP/IP tab, specify the "DHCP client ID" text field.

Or depending on the version of Mac OS:

-- Mac OS X 10.5 and older
On Mac, the hostname shown on the terminal prompt is configured by the file,
/etc/hostconfig. If it is specified as
HOSTNAME=-AUTOMATIC-,
the name shown in the prompt is provided by DHCP or BootP server.

Change that line to
HOSTNAME=(preferred-name)

-- Mac OS X 10.6 and newer
Use the command scutil (system configuration utility)
scutil --set HostName (preferred-name)

Remember to check the name set in
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist,
under System/System/ComputerName

Show user Library folder in Finder

Since moved to MacOS Lion (10.7.x), the folder Library disappeared from my Finder window.  It bothers me a lot.  Apparently Apple hides it in this OS release.   Here is the way to reveal it.

From console terminal, use this command.

$ chflags nohidden ~/Library/