site_archiver@lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev@lists.apple.com Hi, But that seems to be it in terms of documentation? Thanks! 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@lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/site_archiver%40lists.a... I'm currently trying to evaluate if distribution scripts will make certain things easier in building an installer (meta-)package. Have I been missing something or is the documentation in this area really sparse? I have looked at: - Software Delivery Guide (<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/ DeveloperTools/Conceptual/SoftwareDistribution/index.html>) - Installer Release Notes for 10.4 (<http://developer.apple.com/ releasenotes/DeveloperTools/Installer.html>) So far I have accumulated some concrete questions that I had hoped could be answered by reading the appropriate documentation. But I didn't see the answers to these questions anywhere: - Is it possible to use distribution scripts in conjunction with a user-selectable install destination? I have a distribution package containing several plain packages (.pkg) which all have IFPkgFlagRelocatable set to Yes. This works fine in a metapackage (it shows a button to allow the user to select the destination folder in the "Select Destination" pane after choosing a destination volume) but it seems to be ignored in the distribution package. - Why does the Installer use a resizable window when using distribution scripts? The same package built as a plain (Info.plist) metapackage gets a fixed size window. This is relevant because the Installer uses a background image which looks bad when stretched. (And it would also look bad when used in a larger window and fixed to any corner.) - Would distribution scripts help to require admin authentication only when it is really needed? By default the install goes into /Applications so it needs admin authentication. But non-admin users should be allowed to install into their home directory (see first question) without being asked for admin credentials. I am looking at distribution scripts to see if they can help solve this problem. - What is the preferred/supported way to test for the processor architecture (PPC vs. Intel) in a distribution script? Currently I compare the output of system.sysctl('hw.machine') to "Power Macintosh" and "i386". But strangely this sysctl selector is not included in the presets that PackageMaker provides. This make me wonder if that is the best way to test this. Would testing system.gestalt('sysa') for result '2' or '10' (gestaltSysArchitecture is gestaltPowerPC or gestaltIntel) be a better way to do this? - Should a dispribution package (.mpkg containing a distribution.dist file) generate an appropriate error message when opened on a pre 10.4 system? If not, how can I achieve this? My tests so far seem to indicate, that no error message is presented to the user on a 10.3.9 system, but that the Installer will launch without any open window when a distribution package is opened in the Finder. That is a very bad user experience IMHO and seems to be a design flaw in the Apple Installer? This email sent to site_archiver@lists.apple.com