Appendix D: Further Reading and Communities¶
D.1 Recommended Books¶
| Title | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Learning the Bash Shell (O'Reilly) | Classic introduction to Bash scripting fundamentals | O'Reilly |
| Classic Shell Scripting (O'Reilly) | Deeper look at shell scripting philosophy and patterns | O'Reilly |
| macOS Internals by Jonathan Levin | In-depth look at macOS internals, useful for advanced scripts | Technologeeks |
| The Mac Administrator’s Guide to Bash | Practical Bash applications for Mac admins | (Check your local or online tech bookstore) |
D.2 Online Documentation and Guides¶
| Resource | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Bash Manual | Official Bash GNU manual | https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/ |
| Apple Developer Documentation | Official docs for macOS internals and command-line tools | https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ |
| SS64 | Clear and concise macOS command reference | https://ss64.com/osx/ |
| NIST macOS Security Guides | macOS Security Configuration Guidance | https://csrc.nist.gov/publications |
| mSCP Documentation | macOS Security Compliance Project documentation | https://pages.nist.gov/macos_security/ |
| North Pole Security | Santa application control documentation and Workshop | https://northpole.dev |
| Jamf Documentation | Comprehensive MDM and macOS management docs | https://docs.jamf.com/ |
| Munki Documentation | macOS package management documentation | https://github.com/munki/munki/wiki |
D.3 Active Communities¶
| Community | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Stack Overflow (bash tag) | Active Q&A for Bash scripting | https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/bash |
| MacAdmins Slack | Large community for macOS admins | https://www.macadmins.org/ |
| r/macsysadmin (Reddit) | macOS system administration subreddit | https://www.reddit.com/r/macsysadmin/ |
| r/bash (Reddit) | Community for sharing Bash scripts and tips | https://www.reddit.com/r/bash/ |
| Objective-See Community | macOS security research community | https://objective-see.org/ |
| Installomator Community | Discussion and support for Installomator | https://github.com/Installomator/Installomator/discussions |
| MacAdmin Tools | Community-maintained macOS admin tools and scripts | https://github.com/macadmin-tools |
D.4 GitHub Repositories and Projects¶
| Repository | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| mSCP | macOS Security Compliance Project | https://github.com/usnistgov/macos_security |
| Santa | Application control system (North Pole Security) | https://github.com/northpolesec/santa |
| SAP Privileges | Time-limited admin elevation | https://github.com/SAP/macOS-enterprise-privileges |
| Installomator | Application installer/updater | https://github.com/Installomator/Installomator |
| Nudge | macOS update deferral framework | https://github.com/macadmins/nudge |
| swiftDialog | Dialog presentation tool | https://github.com/bartreardon/swiftDialog |
| erase-install | OS refresh automation | https://github.com/grahampugh/erase-install |
| Osquery | Endpoint visibility platform | https://github.com/osquery/osquery |
D.5 Author's Favorites¶
I recommend subscribing to security mailing lists, following macOS security and scripting blogs, and joining relevant GitHub repositories to stay current. The macOS ecosystem evolves fast — staying connected helps you keep your Bash scripts secure, compatible, and powerful. Participate in open-source projects, contribute back improvements, and share knowledge with the MacAdmin community.