Legality of Modifying OS x INstaller File (Distribution)

Question

The program I would like to make is to modify one of the OS X Installer files, specifically the file "Distribution" which defines in the OS x Installer what packages are to be listed in the Custom dialog and some other variables in the installer, is this legal to modify and put an in application and can this be legally hosted in say Google Code or SourceForge or Launchpad? I understand that this is more of a legal question then a Programming question but I'm sure some programmers come into a similar situation.

Here is two excerpts from the Apple Eula, related to this somewhat

the first one states (I retyped it without good grammar) " you may not and you agree not to or enable others to copy decompile reverse engineer disassemble attempt to derive the source of decrypt modify or create derivative works of the apple software or any services provided by the appl software or any part thereof."

The important note states:this software may be used to reproduce, modify, publish, and distribute materials.

Answer 1

To this, I only have to say:

You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

While you could probably be alright just releasing this single file with your own modifications, and Apple probably wouldn't sue you, you may not want to take your chances. The file would most likely be considered their copyright, so you makind a couple changes to the file would probably not be a viewed very well by the courts. Plus, Apple has a lot more money than you (I assume anyway), so it's not something I would like to fight in court.

Maybe a possible work around would be for you to write a program that takes the file they already have, and produces an output of the file that is the desired output. Basically, something that patches the file, without you having to distribute the actual file.

Answer 2

Apple will produce custom install DVDs for enterprise customers and provide tools for installing custom builds remotely (Remote Desktop/NetInstall).

I'd recommend using NetInstall with a couple of post-install shell scripts if you have a number of clients to configure rather than hacking the OS X installer.

This is probably a question for the peeps over at http://serverfault.com/ regardless.