With MacOSX the Finder and the BSD/fink subsystem have a different understanding what an application really is. If you want to launch for example “gv” from Firefox to view postscript files, it is not enough to select /sw/bin/gv in the Firefox open dialog. What you have to do, is to create an .app bundle from a fink shell script. Platypus makes that quite easy:

• Installl and launch Platypus
• Set intepreter to /bin/sh
• Click on the “New” button below the “Script Path”.
• Click on “Edit” and write something like:

It’s important that you write it, not only copy it from here. Copy&paste creates ^M (DOS like?) line ending such that the script is not runnable afterwards.

• Select “Is droppable”
• Change the “App Name” to something sensible, e.g. “gv”
• Click on “Create”
• Store the gv.app in ~/Applications.

Now you can open a postscript file in Firefox and select the new gv.app in the “Open with” dialog. Voila: “shell applications” in your Mac programs.