[Macpartners] Writing Macintosh Installers

[Stephen Ragalevsky]

Apple recommends our own installer application and framework.   
Installer is the system software and package installation tool  
included with Mac OS X.

Packages (.pkg or.mpkg) contain a product or product component—the  
package’s payload—to be installed on a computer, and install  
configuration information that determines where and how the product is  
installed.  You've already used packages to install numerous  
applications or software updates, the icon for packages is an open  
yellow and brown box.  As Patrick and Duncan mention there are a few  
tools for creating packages on Mac OS X.

If you're making your first installer package, I would recommend  
picking up the Peachpit Press Deployment book in addition to the  
aforementioned developer documentation:
	http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=032150268X
There is an excellent chapter on packages and using PackageMaker in  
the book.

Best,
Steve
On Feb 18, 2009, at 8:04 PM, Duncan S Kincaid wrote:

> there is also apple's own free 'PackageMaker' (part of XCode Tools)
> which is much improved over previous versions.
> dk
>
> On Feb 18, 2009, at 7:33 PM, Patrick McNeal wrote:
>
>>
>> On Feb 18, 2009, at 7:10 PM, Rocklyn E. Clarke wrote:
>>
>>> Is there a current standard MacOS installer application recommended
>>> for use at MIT?
>>> Is there a clear winner in the marketplace of MacOS installer apps?
>>
>> IS&T doesn't publish an installer standard per se, but does strive to
>> follow Apple's installation guidelines.  Namely, using application
>> bundles for simple applications that can be installed via drag-and-
>> drop, and packages for applications with more complex requirements.
>> Using these models also has the benefit of being supported by many
>> remote management solutions such as Apple Remote Desktop and Casper.
>>
>> For more information, I encourage you to checkout this Apple
>> documentation:
>>
>> http://developer.apple.com/tools/installerpolicy.html
>> http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/SoftwareDistribution
>>
>> If you end up deciding to use a package based installer, these are  
>> two
>> popular package creation tools:
>>
>> Iceberg
>> http://s.sudre.free.fr/Software/Iceberg.html
>> "An Integrated Packaging Environment (IPE) that allows you to create
>> packages or metapackages conforming to the Mac OS X specifications."
>>
>> Composer
>> http://www.jamfsoftware.com/products/composer.php
>> A free part of the Casper Suite that allows for the creation of Apple
>> Packages
>>
>> --Patrick
>>
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> duncan kincaid
> cron | mit school of architecture and planning
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Stephen Ragalevsky
Sr. Systems Engineer
Apple Inc.
(781) 648-3548