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Use Wine without Terminal 1: ".command" Method

Making Wine feel more at home in OS X

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A lot of OS X users aren't used to poking around in the Terminal, so using Wine, which relies heavily on the command-line, can seem pretty intimidating. So, I've thrown together two different ways that you can use Wine on a day-to-day basis without having to open Terminal.

For the other method, see Use Wine without Terminal 2: Automator Method.

Making an executable .command script that launches a Windows app with Wine

Here's a video of the process, and step-by-step instructions are located below:

One-step (Terminal) method:

Copy and paste the following into a blank Terminal.app window, replacing the [placeholders] with your actual paths and names:


cd [FolderContainingApplication.exe]
echo "DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/X11/lib \
	'/User/[username]/[PathTo]/wine' \
	'/User/[username]/[PathTo]/[ApplicationName].exe'" > \
	[ApplicationName].command
chmod +x [ApplicationName].command # makes it executable
sh [ApplicationName].command

Here's what this does:

  • Changes to the right directory (folder)
  • Creates a file and its contents
  • Makes that file executable
  • Runs that executable file

Detailed (graphical + Terminal) method:

  1. Open Terminal.app
  2. Type cd , drag-and-drop the folder containing your Windows application onto the Terminal window, and press return
  3. Run open -e in Terminal (or open TextEdit some other way)
  4. In the blank text document, enter the following, replacing the two paths with the absolute paths to your actual wine binary and Windows Application:
    • DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/X11/lib "/path/to/wine" "/path/to/Application.exe"
    • You can drag and drop these files into the text document to get their paths
  5. Save the file with a .command extension
    • This will make it a shell script that will run when you double-click on it from the Finder
  6. Run chmod +x [name of your .command file] in Terminal
  7. Double-click your .command file in Finder
  8. That's it!

Pros:

  • Runs through Terminal, so terminal output is visible (important for diagnosing problems)
  • Good command-line practice
  • Can be done in one step
  • Small (around 40 KB)

Cons:

  • Not a proper OS X application (it's a .command, not a .app), so it can only be added to the documents side of the Dock
  • Requires command-line work to set up
  • Opens Terminal.app, increasing screen clutter a bit