Keeping the discussion on the Mac platform.
Jim, my model is to install fpc from the binary kits provided on sourceforge. Then use svn to download fixes_2_0 source and compile with fpc. I suggest you need fixes_2_0 for a number of reasons -
* You almost certainly need to target Cocoa.
* You almost certainly want to use lldb instead of gdb
* The Cocoa is steadily improving and lldb interface is rapidly improving (since 2.0.0)
* Fixes_2_2 is a safer and more stable than trunk but gets the new stuff much faster than release version.
I updated the wiki page a week or so ago noting that gdb is no longer needed and intend, almost immediately, to further clarify some matters about getting lldb setup.
I personally prefer to use svn to download source and build it myself over fpcUpDeluxe as it leaves me with a bit more control, I'm more aware of where the source is and can use the svn tools to update it and manage it. But if your needs are a bit simpler than mine, fpcUpDeluxe would normally be a great choice.
When you ran fpcUpDeluxe, you ran it as yourself ? I'm surprised thats left permission problems. On Linux, if people use their package managers to install, things end up in /usr and they cannot write there as ordinary user, so they start Lazarus with the 'startlazarus' command, it manages a complicated model where new binaries are build down in user's config dir.
edit: typo with fixes version number