ID #1183

Can I use SQLyog on a Mac?

Not directly.  We do not provide 'native' binaries for Mac OS-x.


However there still are two different ways to run SQLyog on a Mac:

1) Using a Wine-port for Mac OS-X.

2) Using a virtualization manager.

Using a Wine-port:

Read here our general FAQ on SQLyog with Wine.  A free Wine port for mac exists named 'darwine' (as well as commercial ports). But note that for Mac OS-X specifically there is a problem that Wine uses the X Windows System (commonly know as 'X11') for graphic routines and display.  This graphics system is not standard on recent Mac OS-X and will have to be installed.  You may refer to this Blog by one of our users how to accomplish this.

 

Using a virtualization manager:

'Parallels' seems to be a very popular virtualization manager used by Mac users. It designed for Mac exclusively. But also VMWare distributes a virtualization manager optimized for Mac named 'VMWare Fusion'.


PRO's and CON's:


1) 'cost': 'darwine' is free and you will not need a Windows license. Virtualization managers are not free and you will need to install Windows inside the virtual machine.
2) 'feel and purity': X11 graphics seems not to please a lot of Mac users!
3) 'system integrity': (dar)wine itself and all programs running with it are 'encapsulated' in a single process and basically does not change the system.  This applies to most Unix'es.  But not quite true for Mac as an 'alien' graphics system (X11) is required.  Even though it does not affect native Mac programs, some Mac users don't like adding such 'alien' systems' component.
4) 'scope': Wine (and darwine) is a replacement for the Win32 API - and not other Microsoft components used for programming programs for Windows - such as WFC ('Windows Foundations Classes') and VB and .NET runtimes.  Only programs compiled with the Win32 API alone (what SQLyog is) will run with (dar)wine - not .NET programs for instance.  Using a virtualization manager you will be able to run all Windows program on your Mac.


In general if you only want to install SQLyog (and maybe a few more 'pure' Win32 API programs) and are not too much concerned about 'purity' (and prioritize costs higher) you could consider 'darwine'.  Oppositely you could consider a virtualization manager.

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