Why did we need to get rid of the execution log in PackageMaker?
Why did we need to get rid of the execution log in PackageMaker?
- Subject: Why did we need to get rid of the execution log in PackageMaker?
- From: <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:36:42 -0800
- Thread-topic: Why did we need to get rid of the execution log in PackageMaker?
I've got a really simple .pmproj based installer that:
1. Executes a preflight script
2. Puts one single application package in the user-chosen destination folder
3. Executes a postflight script
It's worked perfectly for years, but I needed to build a new version of the
application for Leopard, so I opened it, watched in horror as PackageMaker
hung and crashed several times until I deleted its preferences files,
wrestled with the fact that the command line version's "compatibility mode"
wasn't actually compatible with anything except building broken packages
that cannot be opened by anything for a while, and then got all my build
scripts updated to the new syntax and running smoothly.
Unfortunately, while my installers are now being built correctly in Leopard,
they are not executing correctly. Specifically, nothing is installed. The
installer goes through all the motions and does everything in its power to
indicate success on all fronts, but at the end of the process, nothing is
written to the destination drive, and no scripts are executed. It prompts
for admin passwords just fine, so I don't think it's a permissions issue
when trying to write to /Applications.
One interesting thing that I have noticed is that some settings in my
project, especially those which are made from the new "Components" tab, are
not persistent in any meaningful way. If I uncheck a box, it re-checks
itself as soon as the .pmdoc file is closed and re-opened (yes, I hit "Save"
before closing). Whether or not this has anything to do with the fact that
nothing is being installed, I have no idea, but it's the only thing I can
actually see going wrong.
Ordinarily, whenever I had no idea why an installer was failing, I could
elect to run it from PackageMaker with a detailed execution log, and find
out everything I needed to know right there. This is no longer possible it
seems, and I haven't found anything comparable in Console.app to serve as a
substitute.
So I figured I'd have to go run 'installer' with the -verbose flag on to get
any useful information as to what was going wrong, and much to my surprise,
doing that made the exact same installer package work perfectly! Scripts
were run, app was installed, and all was well. Deleted everything and tried
simply double clicking the same package file that had just worked on the
command line, and once again, it only pretended to work and nothing was
actually installed.
Why oh why did the execution log die? PackageMaker is frustrating enough
without the ability to debug what it builds.
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