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Knowledge is only real when shared.
November 22, 2021
Automated installation and configuration of macOS for Web Development.
Configuring a system for development is mostly a subjective matter and depends on the programmer using it. In the spirit of keeping things simple the following setup aims to provide all the necessary tools and configurations for Web Development while cutting out distractions to make it easy to focus on the result and the code.
Formatting a Mac once or twice a year can be a good thing for several reasons. First, it forces one to backup all necessary files or remove files and applications no longer needed. Secondly, leftovers from applications and updates are cleared out which generally make the system faster. Also, freshly installed applications are usually less error prone than ones having been updated for a long time. Last but not least, undesired Malware is also sure to be removed when the drive is formatted.
• Backup your data in the Cloud or on a physical drive.
• Startup your mac in Internet Recovery by pressing and holding ⌘⌥R.
• Go to Disk Utility and select View ➜ Show All Devices then select the main Apple SSD and click Erase with format APFS and GUID scheme.
• Exit Disk Utility and format the drive by clicking Reinstall macOS in the main menu.
• This will take some time and then follow the instructions making sure to enable encryption when prompted.
The installation guide is found on GitHub and includes detailed instructions on how to make all configurations and installations by hand. Configurations that can be automated with the script detailed below are annotated with a 🤖 symbol.
A lot of things in the guide can be automated by running the script also found in the repository in file development.sh. The script will set many configurations and install the software where possible. Running such a script can pose a security risk so this is only advised if you are able to verify there is no mailicious code found in the script.
When using the script there is no need to follow the guide as the configurations that cannot be automated by the script will be displayed as well. The first command will download the file as it cannot be directly downloaded from GitHub using Chrome. The script has to be run a second time with sudo while with the first run the user specific settings will be applied.
The above video demonstrates how to use the script along with the steps that have to be performed manually.