In Computing, the Fink project is an effort to port list of popular Unix programs to Mac OS X. Fink uses the Debian package management system, Advanced Packaging Tool, as well as its own frontend program, fink (which is implemented as a set of Perl modules). It is maintained by a large community of contributors [http://fink.sourceforge.net/people.phpphpLang=en] who donate much of their time to package management and the project s further development.

Fink is widely recommended as the simplest way for users to install and maintain their favourite Unix programs on Mac OS X. It features a binary distribution for quick and easy installation, as well as a source distribution for user prefering more flexibility. A tool named FinkCommander offers a GUI frontend for Fink.

Fink is not compliant with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, as it stores all its data in a top-level directory named /sw rather than under /usr/local .

The name Fink is German language for finch bird, and is related to the Darwin (operating system) operating system (that lies at the core of Mac OS X), through Charles Darwin s study of diversity among finches.

The Fink project was started in December, 2000 by a German hacker Christoph Pfisterer [http://chrisp.de] who goes by the handle chrisp. He left the project in November 2001 after learning about the unthankfulness of people the hard way. [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.phpmsg_id=243622]

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