March 2011 - Installer-dev - lists.apple.com

Re: creating pkg without PackageMaker
by Per Olofsson 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Thread-index: AQHL18DWaEJAYcsHvkCKFwdYLrkqmpQYGlmA Thread-topic: creating pkg without PackageMaker 1 mar 2011 kl. 04.29 skrev Jeremy Matthews: > I'm looking to understand the structure of a package so I can create one programmatically for an end-user. > The idea is that my software will create a package without requiring Developer tools to be installed. Alright, you'll need to do the following: * Create a gzipped cpio archive of the payload (ditto). * Create a bill of materials (mkbom). * Create a PackageInfo file (see http://s.sudre.free.fr/Stuff/Ivanhoe/FLAT.html) * Pack them up with pkgutil --flatten. Take a simple flat package, expand it with pkgutil --expand, and examine its contents. As you'll see it's fairly straightforward. -- Per Olofsson, IT-service, University of Gothenburg _______________________________________________ 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 pkg without PackageMaker
by Stephane Sudre 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

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:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:content-type; bh=7/2GV9uIasHFUd8EINwWgT4owdtRDYCmsDDU7M+VKrk=; b=QzSciJt1CP7fQzWjzAI8g2fyjlMAhmPvn8Jcq/frSd/FPdt3AbkfSz3hifucb+NYVE sHJCdTxkeDjJPLZf70wJtBev6gdYWDko3+Dgg8xAHwDU+ZWrpXlKAo4Gz3pNwk9N1Mj+ 6Q2lUdR/sN4gOvbJDjfkWLltsE659lB5Hgd48= Domainkey-signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type; b=fTzjN5S89cO5PuNI+mbKsxqRkIVWwzQSxKI2CUc4gtg/fGqpZu+fId8KnO2QoqMveR AL2HjEIGZDs7o9houa91rzm0R0d2IEl0HN9rNATtPlrJWYAtIR+PyU/cZV+0wmXt/4Be hwe4b+ib1+jgHGA7G4yhv2GItE/22q+dEnGGw= The source code for Iceberg and Packages is available. On Tuesday, March 1, 2011, Colin Cornaby <colin.cornaby(a)mac.com> wrote: > Apple had documentation on the structure of 10.4 installer packages, I can't seem to find it right now, I know it was a pain to find originally... > > Someone has done the same work for 10.5 installer packages though: > http://s.sudre.free.fr/Stuff/Ivanhoe/FLAT.html > > This is difficult to do, and you're at least going to need to get dirty with C. > > On Feb 28, 2011, at 7:29 PM, Jeremy Matthews wrote: > >> Q) Are you looking for articles on alternate software like Composer, The >> Luggage, or Iceberg? Googling their names shows a few. >> >> A) Nope >> >> >> I'm looking to understand the structure of a package so I can create one programmatically for an end-user. >> The idea is that my software will create a package without requiring Developer tools to be installed. >> >> Ideas? >> >> Thanks, _______________________________________________ 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 pkg without PackageMaker
by Nick Blievers 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Its possible, and its pretty easy to dissect an older style .pkg bundle. The main sections are: -the bill of materials file (.bom) which can be examined with lsbom and created with mkbom -the archive itself (pax.gz) which can be unzipped with gunzip, and pax (pax is somewhat like tar) -The Info.plist file, which describes the package, and any extra scripts etc which are run. Newer .pkg (flat) are slightly trickier, but not by much. They are a xar file of (more or less) the above. So, the answer to your question is that I haven't seen any repository of information... but its fairly easily retrieved just by poking around. Hope this helps, Nick On 01/03/2011, at 2:29 PM, Jeremy Matthews wrote: > Q) Are you looking for articles on alternate software like Composer, The > Luggage, or Iceberg? Googling their names shows a few. > > A) Nope > > > I'm looking to understand the structure of a package so I can create one programmatically for an end-user. > The idea is that my software will create a package without requiring Developer tools to be installed. > > Ideas? > > Thanks, > jeremy _______________________________________________ > 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/nick%40trustdefender.c… > > This email sent to nick(a)trustdefender.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 pkg without PackageMaker
by Colin Cornaby 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Apple had documentation on the structure of 10.4 installer packages, I can't seem to find it right now, I know it was a pain to find originally... Someone has done the same work for 10.5 installer packages though: http://s.sudre.free.fr/Stuff/Ivanhoe/FLAT.html This is difficult to do, and you're at least going to need to get dirty with C. On Feb 28, 2011, at 7:29 PM, Jeremy Matthews wrote: > Q) Are you looking for articles on alternate software like Composer, The > Luggage, or Iceberg? Googling their names shows a few. > > A) Nope > > > I'm looking to understand the structure of a package so I can create one programmatically for an end-user. > The idea is that my software will create a package without requiring Developer tools to be installed. > > Ideas? > > Thanks, > jeremy _______________________________________________ > 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/colin.cornaby%40mac.com > > This email sent to colin.cornaby(a)mac.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 pkg without PackageMaker
by Jeremy Matthews 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

site_archiver(a)lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev(a)lists.apple.com Q) Are you looking for articles on alternate software like Composer, The Luggage, or Iceberg? Googling their names shows a few. A) Nope I'm looking to understand the structure of a package so I can create one programmatically for an end-user. The idea is that my software will create a package without requiring Developer tools to be installed. Ideas? Thanks, jeremy _______________________________________________ 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 smime.p7s

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