How To for installing an app

Question

A good friend of mine is a Mac user (I'm not -- I use GNU/Linux), and I want him to install outguess. He's terrified of trying to install any application on his OS X box. I'll need to hold his hand through the process, and that starts with giving him access to some excellent instructions on how to install tarred and zipped source code on a Mac. I won't assume that the steps I use will work for him, although that seems likely; what I want is a HOWTO that spells out the easiest, most automated way for a Mac user to add software that is compatible with his OS. That will guide us both, and if I can get someone to stuff some tranquilizers down his throat, who knows...we might be able to use outguess together!
Yes, I know it's simple, and yes, I know you just follow the directions. There are no directions, or at least none that I can find for Mac. And NO, it's not simple for someone who is terrified of failure. If I assume too much, and have him using bash commands as if he were running BSD, I might get it wrong...which would traumatize the poor fellow. I want to do it the MAC WAY. If we fail, he will be so spooked he'll never consent to try again; he's totally intimidated. So we either do it right the first time or...it's hopeless.
If you have a slick URL for me, please pass it along. TIA!!

Answer 1

Outguess is only compatible with PPC macs, so let's start by asking: What mac does your friend have? If he has an Intel Mac then Outguess is not compatible with his mac.
The way to install TAR files in mac is the same as in BSD (with the only difference that in Mac OS X when you double click a TAR it unpacks the file into a folder). You can then compile the source code from the terminal window or from the x11 window.
If you need references to what commands are available in OS X's version of BSD you can access the Man pages:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages
Also you may find a version of Outguess for Mac OS X over at the FINK project page:
http://www.finkproject.org/
Or there might be a version of it in the Apple unix apps:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unixopensource/
good Luck!