site_archiver@lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev@lists.apple.com _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev@lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.a... On Feb 7, 2007, at 4:36 PM, sprockets77@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@lists.apple.com