February 2008 - Installer-dev

Re: postflight script on Leopard
by Robert Stainsby 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com ====================================== Robert Stainsby Melbourne, Australia Email; Video, voice & text chat (iChat AV/AOL IM): rjsdev(a)mac.com http://web.mac.com/rjsdev/ _______________________________________________ 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.… Hi Jim > Is there an easy way to "drop" admin rights for a postflight script? Using su with the -c flag for the /usr/bin/mdimport command could work. There doesn't seem to be a -c flag for either su or mdimport. Were you thinking of a different flag? This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Oddities in Installer.app and PackageMaker 3 on Leopard
by Stéphane Sudre 03 Feb '08

03 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com While this can prove convenient, the end-user can get fully confused. Let's take the following example: o My choice Package A (100 KB) o My Sub choice Package B (10 KB) o My Sub choice 2 Package C (1 KB) [x] My Choice 111 KB [x] My Sub choice 10 KB [x] My Sub choice 2 1 KB Now, let's say I remove Package A. In Installer.app, this will look exactly the same except for the Size: [x] My Choice 11 KB [x] My Sub choice 10 KB [x] My Sub choice 2 1 KB Let's take the following example: o My choice o My Sub choice o My Sub choice 2 My $0.02 _______________________________________________ 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.… 1) You can have a choice that contains a package and multiple sub- choices. If we build such a distribution, we can see in Installer.app (in Customize mode): This is a bit confusing for the end-user because 10 + 1 = 11 (at least, in decimal, the last time I checked). There's no way for the end user to figure out why sometimes 10 + 1 = 11 and sometimes 10 + 1 = 111. 2) A choice has 3 attributes to describe its initial state: selected or not, enabled or not, hidden or not. IMHO, PackageMaker is lazy regarding the "Selected "flag and this can lead to incoherences between the distribution settings and what really happens. In PackageMaker 3, I can state that "My Choice" is not selected by default but that by default, "My Sub choice" and "My Sub choice 2" are. (or the opposite). This should not be possible because the "Selected" state of a parent is determined by the states of its children (it's also the reason why the Mixed State exists for Checkboxes) Maybe it could be possible to use one the few Gigaflops available to add some ingenuity to this checkbox. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Question about the new .pkg format
by Paul Miller 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com User-agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Macintosh/20071031) On Feb 2, 2008, at 10:38 AM, Paul Miller wrote: _______________________________________________ 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.… Nathan Duran wrote: My point was I can't take advantage of new features in Package Maker (arguably features that should have been in there since the first version) because I can't count on my customers to upgrade to the latest OS immediately. Why should I have to upgrade my entire OS just to get flat installer packages? Apple doesn't seem to have the same trouble upgrading iTunes and Quicktime for Tiger. Is Installer implemented in the kernel or something? Whether or not the "new features" are vital enough to worry about whether or not you'll be able to take advantage of them is arguable as well. Welcome to the software industry. I've been in the "software industry" for 20 years. Only Apple (and its apologists) seem to find that attitude acceptable. Being an Apple-only developer/consultant, perhaps you don't realize the "software industry" is far far larger than you think it is. As a cross-platform developer, I feel compelled to point out where I think one platform got something wrong that others got right - with the best interests of the customer in mind. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Question about the new .pkg format
by Nathan Duran 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com On Feb 2, 2008, at 10:38 AM, Paul Miller wrote: My point was I can't take advantage of new features in Package Maker (arguably features that should have been in there since the first version) because I can't count on my customers to upgrade to the latest OS immediately. Why should I have to upgrade my entire OS just to get flat installer packages? Apple doesn't seem to have the same trouble upgrading iTunes and Quicktime for Tiger. Is Installer implemented in the kernel or something? Whether or not the "new features" are vital enough to worry about whether or not you'll be able to take advantage of them is arguable as well. Welcome to the software industry. _______________________________________________ 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: Question about the new .pkg format
by Paul Miller 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com User-agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Macintosh/20071031) This question is about the new PackageMaker 3.0. Yes. _______________________________________________ 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.… When I choose 10.5 as the Minimum System in the Install Properties dialog, I find that PackageMaker builds the package as a flat file But when I choose 10.4 or 10.3, PackageMaker builds the same package as a bundle. Is this new flat-file format supported only on 10.5? Or can I still open it using the 10.4 Installer? No. It's great they keep improving it, but assuming that everyone will upgrade to 10.5 immediately is flat wrong. That's the reason why Installer.app still supports the older formats. You can have an installation package that works for Mac OS X 10.2 (probably even 10.0) and later. Why doesn't Apple push out new versions of Installer for 10.4? For the same reason they don't push out new versions of Installer for 10.2 or 10.3. Personally, I would be very happy if Installer.app on 10.5 could just get fixed to properly deal with localizations, if Installer plugins were supported for flat packages (big regression) and if the installation procedure stopped looking random when it comes to the Select Destination step. My point was I can't take advantage of new features in Package Maker (arguably features that should have been in there since the first version) because I can't count on my customers to upgrade to the latest OS immediately. Why should I have to upgrade my entire OS just to get flat installer packages? Apple doesn't seem to have the same trouble upgrading iTunes and Quicktime for Tiger. Is Installer implemented in the kernel or something? This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Question about the new .pkg format
by Stéphane Sudre 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com On Feb 2, 2008, at 2:43 PM, Paul Miller wrote: This question is about the new PackageMaker 3.0. Yes. _______________________________________________ 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.… When I choose 10.5 as the Minimum System in the Install Properties dialog, I find that PackageMaker builds the package as a flat file But when I choose 10.4 or 10.3, PackageMaker builds the same package as a bundle. Is this new flat-file format supported only on 10.5? Or can I still open it using the 10.4 Installer? No. It's great they keep improving it, but assuming that everyone will upgrade to 10.5 immediately is flat wrong. That's the reason why Installer.app still supports the older formats. You can have an installation package that works for Mac OS X 10.2 (probably even 10.0) and later. Why doesn't Apple push out new versions of Installer for 10.4? For the same reason they don't push out new versions of Installer for 10.2 or 10.3. Personally, I would be very happy if Installer.app on 10.5 could just get fixed to properly deal with localizations, if Installer plugins were supported for flat packages (big regression) and if the installation procedure stopped looking random when it comes to the Select Destination step. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Question about the new .pkg format
by Paul Miller 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com User-agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Macintosh/20071031) This question is about the new PackageMaker 3.0. Yes. _______________________________________________ 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.… When I choose 10.5 as the Minimum System in the Install Properties dialog, I find that PackageMaker builds the package as a flat file But when I choose 10.4 or 10.3, PackageMaker builds the same package as a bundle. Is this new flat-file format supported only on 10.5? Or can I still open it using the 10.4 Installer? No. It's great they keep improving it, but assuming that everyone will upgrade to 10.5 immediately is flat wrong. Why doesn't Apple push out new versions of Installer for 10.4? This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Re: Question about the new .pkg format
by Stéphane Sudre 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com On Feb 1, 2008, at 6:33 PM, Jose R.C.Cruz wrote: 2008 Feb 01, 09:26 PST This question is about the new PackageMaker 3.0. Yes. No. _______________________________________________ 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.… When I choose 10.5 as the Minimum System in the Install Properties dialog, I find that PackageMaker builds the package as a flat file But when I choose 10.4 or 10.3, PackageMaker builds the same package as a bundle. Is this new flat-file format supported only on 10.5? Or can I still open it using the 10.4 Installer? This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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Question about the new .pkg format
by Jose R.C.Cruz 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Dkim-signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:subject:date:x-mailer; bh=NZiKs5yHh2Q8p1U8aMqmwkheZ2RpgBDZhj/r+U+Xhd8=; b=MVU5gHatFDT+t7JZuWMDbN9bnsieCPjMMJ2CtgEx+wUaeGFYrkAisXQCnEDF+KnUjF2pXtEYAh1LB4ix0QkIhztrtPCEQJC29zqpscioje9C1ZevqgzXPdE5YFC+V5a4SmvlK/I7830+J7L/LZy2DZ7f9dstOVUN3R25HfvyOLM= Domainkey-signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:subject:date:x-mailer; b=kwkmkbg/4oWbeUcWlMgIMPN39SwaGF9Oo2qRfLj+h9Xf/DVjgUyTPChNdtQC0Y4s0FItBD9QSRadId5/VHVqdnLONqFxYGWZhfs9tQz0Z0AhMugcbLtZ8hSBuPFilzr+CSRhB1eq+CWDRErGW770e04s3IjogYfdXuZgNFEGaqk= 2008 Feb 01, 09:26 PST This question is about the new PackageMaker 3.0. Thanks for your input. ----- J.C. Cruz anarakisware(a)gmail.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.… When I choose 10.5 as the Minimum System in the Install Properties dialog, I find that PackageMaker builds the package as a flat file But when I choose 10.4 or 10.3, PackageMaker builds the same package as a bundle. Is this new flat-file format supported only on 10.5? Or can I still open it using the 10.4 Installer? Just want to verify this for a MacTech article I am writing. This email sent to site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com

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