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Privilege tree in metapackages.
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Privilege tree in metapackages.


  • Subject: Privilege tree in metapackages.
  • From: Fritz Anderson <email@hidden>
  • Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 17:25:42 -0500

I have been trying to work out the problem of installing something to the /Applications directory (and thus needing administrator privileges) and to the user directory of the person running the installation (installing to a neutral place like /tmp, and transferring the files with a script and the $HOME environment variable). No, that doesn't easily work. That's why I'm exploring my options.

To educate myself, I built the following simple metapackage; my hope was that $USER or $HOME would remain the user's in an unprivileged package that is sister to a privileged one:

TestMeta.mpkg
	# postflight
	Privileged.pkg
		 /Applications/Privileged.rtf
		# postflight
		# Admin authorization
	Unprivileged.pkg
		/Users/Shared/Unprivileged.rtf
		#postflight
		# No additional authorization.

If it matters, the metapackage was built with Iceberg.

The three (meta)packages copy the same postflight script, which is:
================
#!/bin/sh
LOGFILE=/Users/Shared/TestMeta.log
echo \*\*\* Package ${1} \*\*\* >>$LOGFILE
echo '   ' USER = $USER >>$LOGFILE
echo '   ' HOME = $HOME >>$LOGFILE
exit 0
================

The output, after running the metapackage is:
================
*** Package /Users/fritza/TestMeta/build/TestMeta.mpkg ***
    USER = fritza
    HOME = /Users/fritza
*** Package /Users/fritza/TestMeta/build/Privileged.pkg ***
    USER = fritza
    HOME = /Users/fritza
*** Package /Users/fritza/TestMeta/build/Unprivileged.pkg ***
    USER = fritza
    HOME = /Users/fritza
================

When I run Privileged.pkg standalone, as non-admin user "other," entering my admin name and password, I see:
================
*** Package /Users/fritza/TestMeta/build/Privileged.pkg ***
USER = other
HOME = /Users/other
================
Privileged.rtf is duly installed in /Applications/.


Per <http://s.sudre.free.fr/Stuff/PackageMaker_Howto.html>, $USER should be root. In fact, I've seen postflight scripts in other packages, on the same machine, report USER = root.

I am baffled. It seems I simply don't have the fundamental information that would allow me to make sense of all this.

Can anyone please help me dig out?

	— F

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