Posted on by Martin

Mac Switching update, Thu 22 Sep

  • I’m having trouble using MySQL Administrator to back up a remote database. I can specify all the backup options, and select the tables I want to grab, but it quits on me as soon as I try to actually start the backup.
  • I’m also having trouble using MySQL Administrator to restore a backup to my local instance. It just fails to open the .sql file with a non-informative “Error loading backup file”…
  • …and it won’t let me save the password for a connection…
  • …and it won’t let me save changes to any users after their initial creation…
  • …and overall, I’m coming to the conclusion that MySQL Administrator, despite looking gorgeous, is actually a pile of crap. I don’t mind doing all of my db admin from a command line; I just prefer not to. I’m open to the possibility that there’s just something fundamentally wrong with the way I’ve got MySQL Administrator (1.1.0) installed, but MySQL itself (4.1.14) is running perfectly.
  • I’ve installed Password Gorilla as a password management system. Main reason: it’s compatible with Password Safe for Windows, which is what I normally use. It does the job, but not spectacularly. Password Safe isn’t a particularly elegant app, but Password Gorilla makes it look like the belle of the ball. If you happen to know of any alternative password management utilities, let me know.
  • Minor note for the benefit of Google: After installing Password Gorilla according to the instructions, double-clicking the gorilla-1.2.kit file didn’t work. The Mac Mini’s installation of OS X Tiger comes with a 30-day trial of MS Office, and it Excel had already grabbed the .kit file association for itself. The way I got it working was to re-map the association to Launcher, an application that comes with the Tcl/Tk framework that is a prerequisite for Password Gorilla. (Right-click on the .kit file, and select “Open with”. Launcher sits in /Applications/Utilities)

4 Replies to “Mac Switching update, Thu 22 Sep”

  1. I too had a previous install of Password Gorilla that “broke” when I upgraded to Tiger. I spent 2 hours trying all kinds of things before I finally found your entry about remapping the file association with Launcher. You ought to submit that tip to their site!

  2. Glad I could be of help! This is one of the reasons I’m documenting all these little problems I’m having in switching over…so that search engines will pick up these blog entries, and that I might be able to help people having the same problems. It’s good to know it’s working!

  3. Thanks for the tip on using Launcher. I had installed TCL/TK and couldn’t find a way of launching Password Gorilla. Mapping to Launcher has worked now. One more step complete in my transition from Windows, thanks 🙂

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