February 2007 - Installer-dev

Re: creating alias during installation
by Mike Fischer 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Am 08.02.2007 um 12:06 schrieb sprockets77(a)mac.com: Greetings. I am a new Apple developer seeking some help about a PackageMaker issue. (Actually I am an ancient Apple developer, but the last time I did any was around 1986!) Things have changed slightly since then, I'm sure you'll find ;-) I have an application for which I am creating an installation. I have successfully made a simple component package that works just fine. I would now like to have the installer create an alias for the application on the desktop after the basic installation has completed. I understand that this is accomplished by a postinstall application. [Or would it be postflight? I confess that I am not clear on the intended usage differences between these phases.] [Another side question is whether I should be creating a symbolic link as opposed to an alias. I also do not understand the functional or user difference between the two.] For your case an Alias File would be the better choice. In any case, I am searching for sample shell scripts, or pointers to good sources of examples, for this and other common enhancements to a basic installation procedure. I have read the Software Delivery Guide many times and find it strangely detailed on many issues and simultaneously lacking on basic overview concepts and other than very simple examples. I have also searched on the ADC site and in the archives of this list and not found a good source of samples or other useful docs. Appreciative of all advice, help, pointers, etc. Many thanks, In summary: a) Don't create an installer package unless you have to. b) Don't do non-standard stuff which might annoy your customers. Sorry, that's the best advice I can give you. HTH Mike -- Mike Fischer Softwareentwicklung, EDV-Beratung Schulung, Vertrieb Web: <http://homepage.mac.com/mike_fischer/index.html> Note: I read this list in digest mode! Send me a private copy for faster responses. _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… This not something I (as a user) would expect an application installer to do. Indeed I would probably annoyed by it. Are you sure you really want do have an installer with non-standard behaviour? Users of Mac OS X should be quite used to looking in the / Applications folder for apps. No need to clutter their desktop with Alias files. BTW: Why does your app need an installer at all? Why not deliver on a disk image and have the user drag&drop install it. As others have commented, the postflight script is executed after every install while the postinstall and postupgrade scripts are only run when the installer ins in install vs. upgrade mode. You probably want postflight for your case. This is actually documented too: <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/ SoftwareDistribution/Install_Operations/chapter_8_section_2.html> BTW: How will you handle the case when a user reinstalls your app and the Alias file is already present? And what if the user renamed the Alias file? A symbolic link is just a pathname stored as a file with a special attribute. This means that when the target is renamed or moved the symbolic link becomes invalid. An Alias file contains a Mac OS X AliasRecord which is much smarter about finding its target after something changes. OTOH most software doesn't even realise it when a symbolic link is used while resolving an Alias file requires code in the app to handle. While you might get lucky and find something to help you out, the Apple Installer is currently not built to install anything into a users home directory. So finding the correct directory is not trivial. (At least when you take into account multiple users, network home directories, and other complications.) One problem is that an installer that installs into /Applications needs root/admin permissions. It will then run its postflight script with these permissions as well. That makes it hard to even figure out the user who launched the installer (let alone other users on the machine). So finding the correct desktop folder is not easy. I'd try to avoid these problems, unless there is an important reason not to. Creating a non-standard Alias file on the users desktop does not count as an important reason in my book. If you persist in wanting to create an Alias on the users Desktop you micght look into sending the Finder an AppleEvent to create the Alias file for you. That would solve the issue of findung the correct desktop as well. Check out $ man osascript in the Terminal. But be aware that this might not work with remote installs. You might also get problems due to the root vs. user permissions in effect when executing the AppleScript. Go and file bug reports, enhancement requests, etc. at <http:// bugreport.apple.com>. I'm sure the documentation could profit from feedback from your perspective. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Problems with Metapackages/Packages logging messages to the console in Panther...
by Dennet Menezes 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com User-agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.1.6.040913.0 Hi, I have a metapackage, which contains packages which have their own InstallationCheck scripts, based on which the metapackage shows them as enabled and selected or disabled and not selected in the Customize pane. However I notice that the Installer application throws logs such as 2007-02-08 16:05:59.105 Installer[395] 1 couldn't be installed because "This software cannot be installed on this computer." 2007-02-08 16:05:59.106 Installer[395] 2 couldn't be installed because "This software cannot be installed on this computer." to the console in Panther, "1" and "2" being the package names. This logging goes on as many times as you switch back and forth between the Easy Install and Customize panes. This does not happen in Tiger. Is there any way I can stop the Installer from logging these messages to the console or redirect them to the Installer Log window where they actually belong? The metapackage I need to deploy has many such packages and it really messes up the console with multiple logs. I don¹t want these to logs to appear if I can help it. I am attaching the test metapackage along. Thanks Dennet. ----------------------------------------------- Robosoft Technologies - Come home to Technology _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Metapackage.zip

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Re: creating alias during installation
by Bill Coderre 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: creating alias during installation
by Stéphane Sudre 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com On jeudi, février 8, 2007, at 01:36 AM, sprockets77(a)mac.com wrote: Greetings. You would need an Alias IMHO. _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… I am a new Apple developer seeking some help about a PackageMaker issue. (Actually I am an ancient Apple developer, but the last time I did any was around 1986!) I have an application for which I am creating an installation. I have successfully made a simple component package that works just fine. I would now like to have the installer create an alias for the application on the desktop after the basic installation has completed. I understand that this is accomplished by a postinstall application. Where do you install your applications? In /Applications/? Do you require root authentication? [Another side question is whether I should be creating a symbolic link as opposed to an alias. I also do not understand the functional or user difference between the two.] In any case, I am searching for sample shell scripts, or pointers to good sources of examples, for this and other common enhancements to a basic installation procedure. For some sample code to build a tool to install Alias at a defined location, search for the word 'bristow' in this list archive. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: creating alias during installation
by Bill Coderre 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… On Feb 7, 2007, at 4:36 PM, sprockets77(a)mac.com wrote: I am a new Apple developer seeking some help about a PackageMaker issue. (Actually I am an ancient Apple developer, but the last time I did any was around 1986!) I have an application for which I am creating an installation. I have successfully made a simple component package that works just fine. I would now like to have the installer create an alias for the application on the desktop after the basic installation has completed. I understand that this is accomplished by a postinstall application. [Or would it be postflight? I confess that I am not clear on the intended usage differences between these phases.] [Another side question is whether I should be creating a symbolic link as opposed to an alias. I also do not understand the functional or user difference between the two.] Postflight, postinstall, and postupgrade run after the installer finishes with copying files. Postflight is ALWAYS run. Postinstall is run when the installer is running in what is called "installation" mode. Postupgrade is run when the installer is running what is called "upgrade" mode. These modes are not exactly like what the typical end-user expects. Instead, when the installer sees a receipt that matches the package being installed, that's upgrade mode. (There's two ways of matching. Originally, packages matched by name. Recently, we switched to matching by CFBundleIdentifier in the Info.plist) There are two other things that are different between "install" and "upgrade" mode: 1) The button the user clicks to begin installation is marked "upgrade" and not "install" (I think we changed that recently -- now it always says install) 2) The installer compares the bill of materials of what's being installed with the bill of materials in the receipt. If there's a file that's in the old BOM but not the new one, the installer considers it "obsolete" and deletes it. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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creating alias during installation
by sprockets77＠mac.com 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Greetings. Appreciative of all advice, help, pointers, etc. Many thanks, .andy _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… I am a new Apple developer seeking some help about a PackageMaker issue. (Actually I am an ancient Apple developer, but the last time I did any was around 1986!) I have an application for which I am creating an installation. I have successfully made a simple component package that works just fine. I would now like to have the installer create an alias for the application on the desktop after the basic installation has completed. I understand that this is accomplished by a postinstall application. [Or would it be postflight? I confess that I am not clear on the intended usage differences between these phases.] [Another side question is whether I should be creating a symbolic link as opposed to an alias. I also do not understand the functional or user difference between the two.] In any case, I am searching for sample shell scripts, or pointers to good sources of examples, for this and other common enhancements to a basic installation procedure. I have read the Software Delivery Guide many times and find it strangely detailed on many issues and simultaneously lacking on basic overview concepts and other than very simple examples. I have also searched on the ADC site and in the archives of this list and not found a good source of samples or other useful docs. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Shockwave
by Stéphane Sudre 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com On mercredi, février 7, 2007, at 10:57 PM, Snyder, Leonard wrote: What does "it does not work" mean more precisely? _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… Is there a way to use ARD to install Shockwave? I have attempted to use logGen and PackageMaker to make a package installer for Shockwave but it does not work This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Shockwave
by Snyder, Leonard 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Thread-index: AcdLAwD8Vnqk07APTY+ri6iE4yKLrA== Thread-topic: Shockwave Is there a way to use ARD to install Shockwave? I have attempted to use logGen and PackageMaker to make a package installer for Shockwave but it does not work _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Latest security update & Installer.app?
by Peter Bierman 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com -pmb Since "Root" and "Admin" authentication modes produce the same installer behaviors now, could you specify which mode is recommended while creating new installers that have to be launched in Tiger and Leopard. Steven On 12/5/06 4:35 PM, "Peter Bierman" <bierman(a)apple.com> wrote: The installer has three possible authentication modes: Root, Admin, & None. Root has always meant that everyone will be asked for a valid admin account & password. Installation proceeds as the root user. Admin has previously meant that _non admins_ will be asked for a valid admin account and password. Admin users were not asked for a password. Installation proceeds as the root user. None has always meant that installation proceeds as the logged in user. As of the latest security update, the "Admin" authentication mode now asks all users for a valid admin account and password. Installation proceeds as the root user. This means that "Admin" authorization mode now produces the same installer behavior as "Root". Yes, they both still exist as valid flags, but they are now equivalent. This will affect existing installer packages by requiring an admin password in some situations where previously one was not required. The actual installation process once started remains the same. -pmb I'm confused... The original poster is hoping for the "death of Admin Authentication" and the response is that "(Admin authentication now always requests a password.)" Doesn't this mean that Admin authentication is still around??? Can we get a comparison of the old and new behavior? How does it affect our installations? Also, has the documentation for the installer been updated with the new behavior? On jeudi, novembre 30, 2006, at 11:52 PM, Peter Bierman wrote: Could it be possible to get detailed information related to the latest security update and how it affects Installer.app and the installation process? Before investing time in finding it, could it be possible to know for instance if this means the death of Admin Authentication (which would be good news)? That's the extent of the Installer.app changes. (Admin authentication now always requests a password.) Cool. Kevin Hoyt _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/bierman%40apple.com _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/steven%40robosoftin.com ----------------------------------------------- Robosoft Technologies - Come home to Technology _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… Root, which will produce the same behavior on each release. Users should always have the opportunity to decline the package's request for elevated privileges. At 1:33 PM -0800 2/7/07, Steven Lobo wrote: At 4:16 PM -0800 12/5/06, Kevin Hoyt wrote: At 11:28 PM +0100 11/30/06, Stéphane Sudre wrote: This email sent to bierman(a)apple.com This email sent to steven(a)robosoftin.com This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Latest security update & Installer.app?
by Steven Lobo 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Thread-index: AcdK/5wi2sVRCrbyEdud1wAX8sPV4Q== Thread-topic: Latest security update & Installer.app? User-agent: Microsoft-Entourage/11.3.3.061214 Since "Root" and "Admin" authentication modes produce the same installer behaviors now, could you specify which mode is recommended while creating new installers that have to be launched in Tiger and Leopard. Steven On 12/5/06 4:35 PM, "Peter Bierman" <bierman(a)apple.com> wrote: > The installer has three possible authentication modes: Root, Admin, & None. > > Root has always meant that everyone will be asked > for a valid admin account & password. > Installation proceeds as the root user. > > Admin has previously meant that _non admins_ will > be asked for a valid admin account and password. > Admin users were not asked for a password. > Installation proceeds as the root user. > > None has always meant that installation proceeds as the logged in user. > > As of the latest security update, the "Admin" > authentication mode now asks all users for a > valid admin account and password. Installation > proceeds as the root user. > > This means that "Admin" authorization mode now > produces the same installer behavior as "Root". > Yes, they both still exist as valid flags, but > they are now equivalent. > > This will affect existing installer packages by > requiring an admin password in some situations > where previously one was not required. The actual > installation process once started remains the > same. > > -pmb > > > At 4:16 PM -0800 12/5/06, Kevin Hoyt wrote: >> I'm confused... >> The original poster is hoping for the >> "death of Admin Authentication" >> and the response is that >> "(Admin authentication now always requests a password.)" >> >> Doesn't this mean that Admin authentication is still around??? >> >> Can we get a comparison of the old and new behavior? >> How does it affect our installations? >> Also, has the documentation for the installer been updated with the new >> behavior? >> >> On jeudi, novembre 30, 2006, at 11:52 PM, Peter Bierman wrote: >> >>> At 11:28 PM +0100 11/30/06, Stéphane Sudre wrote: >>>> Could it be possible to get detailed information related to the >>>> latest security update and how it affects Installer.app and the >>>> installation process? >>>> >>>> Before investing time in finding it, could it be possible to know for >>>> instance if this means the death of Admin Authentication (which would >>>> be good news)? >>> >>> >>> That's the extent of the Installer.app changes. >>> (Admin authentication now always requests a password.) >> >> Cool. >> >> Kevin Hoyt >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. >> Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) >> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: >> http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/bierman%40apple.com >> >> This email sent to bierman(a)apple.com > > _______________________________________________ > Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. > Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) > Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: > http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/steven%40robosoftin.com > > This email sent to steven(a)robosoftin.com ----------------------------------------------- Robosoft Technologies - Come home to Technology _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.… This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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