Re: Low Rate of Compression in Package Maker
Re: Low Rate of Compression in Package Maker
- Subject: Re: Low Rate of Compression in Package Maker
- From: Bill Coderre <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:03:06 -0700
Paul Miller quips:
Really? I can create a Distribution Package (with multiple sub-
packages) in Tiger and it'll work in Panther? I honestly didn't
think that would work for some reason.
No, unfortunately. Just to make it clear, it is extremely unlikely
the Installer will rev for 10.3 or earlier. (Even if it did, you'd
have to get your users to perform the upgrade.)
I think he's kidding us, but, for clarity:
You can make a package that will install as far back as 10.1, and not
blow up on 10.0 pretty easily though.
1) You must have an InstallationCheck that returns an eror (I return
1) if the running OS is less than 10.1. (10.1 and later style
packages just can't be made to install on 10.0, so give a graceful
error.)
2) In your InstallationCheck and VolumeCheck, do what you need to do.
Remember that if the running OS is 10.4 or newer, it will run the
distribution instead. (I don't tend to use rule dictionaries. I
suppose you can but I haven't tested all the combinations.)
3) Add a Distribution to handle 10.4 or later.
4) In your pre- and postflight scripts, be sure not to do anything
that doesn't work in your oldest supported OS. (ie. don't call
utilities that didn't appear until later. You can put utilities in
your installer script in the Contents/Resources folder, but you have
to make sure they work right, of course!)
5) AVOID messing with the receipts. They keep changing formats and
behaviors, and will likely change again pretty soon. (Instead of
opening a receipt to see what was installed where, have a postflight
check the appropriate environment variables, and write your own
"where stuff got installed" preference file.)
6) Use the PackageMaker in the latest available Developer Tools (and,
consequently, a recent OS version, sorry for the inconvenience).
RESULT:
Packagemaker will generate a package with a hybrid layout containing
new-style Archive.bom files and symlinks in the old (10.1) style places.
This package will error nicely on 10.0, install correctly on 10.1 -
10.4, and probably continue to install on 10.5. (The Installer can't
promise absolute compatibility, but it intends to have it if possible.)
As for mpkgs, the story is pretty much the same, except that you
should add a single distribution script to the mpkg, and have the old
Info.plist for the 10.3 stuff.
Hope this helps.
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