Re: Packager
Re: Packager
- Subject: Re: Packager
- From: Brian Christensen <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:44:09 -0500
On Feb 2, 2004, at 3:06 PM, Stiphane Sudre wrote:
On lundi, fivrier 2, 2004, at 08:21 PM, Brian Christensen wrote:
On Feb 2, 2004, at 10:59 AM, Louis Sinclair wrote:
My install requirements are very simple. An application folder that
goes in /Applications, and a framework that goes in
/Library/Frameworks.
This doesn't answer your question, but I would recommend against
using an installer. Let the user drag the application to
/Applications (or wherever they wish to put it) and include the
framework in your application bundle. Avoid installer programs
whenever possible and stick to simple drag and drop.
If the user is an user with admin privileges, it's a good solution. If
it's not, it's not a great experience on OS prior to 10.3 (i.e.
without FUS).
It doesn't seem like a good solution from a UI perspective no matter
what OS version you're on. From a user's point of view (ignoring
permissions and owner problems for now), what is more intuitive? Simply
dragging the app where he/she wants it, or having to run an "installer"
which will install who knows what in various locations across the hard
disk? What if the user just wants to do a quick test run of the app?
With an installer, you have to actively "install" the thing before you
can test it for five minutes after which time you might decide you
don't need/like the app. Instead of simply dragging it to the trash,
you have to make sure you trash everything it installed (including that
framework it put in /Library/Frameworks and who knows what else). Most
users won't even know that framework ever got installed.
There's also a whole other host of problems with the scattering of
files/frameworks/etc that the application into different locations. It
could break very easily. What if the user decides he doesn't need
"MyAppSupport.framework" in his /Library/Frameworks folder: "Hey, I
never installed this, what is this, I'll throw it out." Or, I got out
and buy a PowerBook and decide to copy a few of my important apps over.
If everything is self-contained in the bundle, it'll work fine. If some
of the required frameworks are in /Library/Frameworks and I neglect to
copy those because I might not know anything about that stuff, the app
won't run. I'll then have to go and download a new copy, which will
waste more time (that is, if I even figure out why the app doesn't
launch).
Another problem with this scenario is that you can't deploy the
application on multiple computers via Apple Remote Desktop AFAIK.
I don't know, but that's a very small subset of users. I think an admin
who can figure out how to set up an Apple Remote Desktop network should
be able to figure out how to deploy the application on multiple
machines without developers having to subject their entire user base to
installation programs.
I will dare to finally add that any application drag and dropped in
the /Applications folder is set with the wrong permissions and/or
owners.
It seems like Apple should be able to come up with a more intuitive
solution to solve the permissions/owners problem so that nobody has to
resort to an installer to make sure the permissions are set properly
when all you're doing is copying to /Applications (yes, for certain
things - device drivers, for instance - installers may be necessary,
but for an application and a framework it is, IMHO, a bad choice). I
also think it's worth the cost of having wrong permissions and/or
owners set; if it's Joe User, he's not going to care about the
permissions anyway since he's the only user (or the only admin) on that
machine. If it's Jane Poweruser, she'll know how to set the proper
permissions after dragging the app into the Applications folder anyway.
It seems to me that the entire purpose of bundles was to get us back to
the simplicity we had on early Macs where an application shipped as one
self-contained file, no installation necessary. I personally tend to
avoid applications that ship with installers whenever I can.
/brian
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| | >Re: Packager (From: Stéphane Sudre <email@hidden>) |