Apple

Thanks for the useful info Bill.

Following on from this, I’ve been playing around with distribution packages on Panther, and it seems that when there is a VolumeCheck script in the .mpkg, it runs it! I guess on Panther, it doesn’t know what a .dist file is, so it assumes it’s dealing with a standard meta-package, however I thought that InstallationCheck and VolumeCheck scripts were ignored in meta-packages (because of what I read from the Software Delivery Guide)…..

…Table 4.1 indicates that the containing metapackage specifies package properties, installation properties, and specify install operations. However, the only aspect of the metapackage used in the installation process is its product information.

(http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/SoftwareDistribution/Managed_Installs/chapter_5_section_2.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000145i-CH6-DontLinkElementID_23)

So it seems that a VolumeCheck script can be included in a distribution package which will obviously be ignored on Tiger and above because of the .dist file, yet on Panther, it will run! I tried adding an InstallationCheck script too for good measure, but this is ignored J

From: Bill Coderre [mailto:email@hidden]
Sent: 06 January 2009 07:51
To: Glover,David
Cc: Installer-Dev mailing-list
Subject: Re: Distribution packages and Panther

On Jan 2, 2009, at 6:28 AM, Glover,David wrote:

I have a question regarding preventing a distribution package from installing on Panther… As Panther ignores .dist files and the install/volume checks within it, and as .mpkgs cannot have their own install and volume check scripts, how can a distribution package me made to fail at runtime on Panther?

Mpkgs, in their Contents/Info.plist have a IFPkgFlagPackageList, which can contain a "required" package. The InstallationCheck and VolumeCheck files in that package can fail the installation on Panther.

So for iLife '08.mpkg, which won't run on Panther, I have this in the Info.plist:

            <key>IFPkgFlagPackageList</key>

            <array>

                        <dict>

                                    <key>IFPkgFlagPackageLocation</key>

                                    <string>iLife '08.pkg</string>

                                    <key>IFPkgFlagPackageSelection</key>

                                    <string>required</string>

                        </dict>

            </array>

iLife '08.pkg/Contents/Resources/InstallationCheck just returns an error code. Tiger and later, since there's a distribution file, the entire InstallationCheck/VolumeCheck regime gets ignored. You can do Panther/Tiger hybrids with Panther-only and Tiger-only packages by being creative in this way.

Oh, and this will help, too:

<key>IFPkgFlagComponentDirectory</key>

<string>./Contents/Installers/</string>

(tell it where to find the subpackages -- they don't have to be inside. If I recall correctly, prior to Panther, putting the packages inside the mpkg was a bad idea.)

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References:
	>Distribution packages and Panther (From: "Glover,David" <email@hidden>)
	>Re: Distribution packages and Panther (From: Bill Coderre <email@hidden>)