README.OSX

README file for libfaketime on Mac OS X
=======================================

Support for Mac OS X is still preliminary. Development and tests are
done under 10.7 Lion only currently.

Compiling and using libfaketime on OS X is slightly different than
on Linux. Please make sure to read the README file for general
setup and usage, and refer to this file only about OS X specifics.


1) Compiling libfaketime on OS X
--------------------------------

Use the OSX-specific Makefiles that are provided, e.g.:

cd src/
make -f Makefile.MacOS

The resulting library will be named libfaketime.dylib.1


2) Using libfaketime from the command line on OS X
--------------------------------------------------

You will need to set three environment variables. In a Terminal.app
or iTerm session, the following commands can be used:

export DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE=1
export DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=/path/to/libfaketime.dylib.1
export FAKETIME="your favorite faketime-spec here"

Please refer to the general README file concerning the format
of the FAKETIME environment variable value and other environment
variables that are related to it.

The "faketime" wrapper shell script has been adapted to OS X;
it offers the same limited libfaketime functionality as on Linux
in a simple-to-use manner without the need to manually set
those environment variables.


3) Integrating libfaketime with applications
--------------------------------------------

Given the limited number of system calls libfaketime intercepts,
it does not work too well with GUI applications on OS X. Crashes
after a random time are common issues, some applications will
not or at least not always see the faked time, and so on.

A safe way to try out whether a specific application works fine
with libfaketime is to start it from the command line. Perform
the steps outlined above and run the application by issuing the
following command:

/Applications/ApplicationName.app/Contents/MacOS/ApplicationName

(Make sure to replace "ApplicationName" twice in that command with
the name of your actual application.)

If it works fine, you can configure the application to permanently
run with libfaketime by editing its Info.plist file. Add the
LSEnvironment key unless it is already there and add a dictionary
with the three keys like this:

    <key>LSEnvironment</key>
    <dict>
        <key>DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE</key>
        <string>1</string>
        <key>DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES</key>
        <string>/path/to/libfaketime.dylib.1</string>
        <key>FAKETIME</key>
        <string>value of FAKETIME here</string>
    </dict>

(If the application is installed in /Applications instead of in
$HOME/Applications, you eventually will need root privileges. If
the application's Info.plist is not in XML, but in binary format,
use appropriate editing or conversion tools.)

Afterwards, you will probably need to run

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -v -f /Applications/ApplicationName.app

to make sure the change to Info.plist does not go unnoticed.

Please note that modifications to Info.plist will be lost when the
application is updated, so this process needs to be repeated after
such updates, including own new builds when using Xcode.


4) Notes for developers of OS X applications
--------------------------------------------

The environment variable FAKETIME can be changed at application run-time
and always takes precedence over other user-controlled settings. It can
be re-set to 0 (zero) to work around potential incompatibilities.