Hi,
What installer software for macintosh would you recommend? It has to support leopard & snow leopard. Be easily scriptable and not expensive.
Thank you,
Nava
+10
A:
Best answer is: don't.
The "Mac Way" is to provide just a .app that the user can drag into /Applications or ~/Applications. The .app is really a directory that contains all the program's assets: code, properties, imagery, etc.
The only time you need to build an installer package is when you're modifying the system. In the Mac world, that's seldom the right answer.
mtnygard
2009-09-08 04:31:24
It should be made clear that for the instances when it is needed, OS X has an installer system built-in, so third-party installers are even more of a bad idea.
2009-09-08 04:39:58
unfortunately i need to script it, since i have to differentiate between systems. I would use the Installer Maker of Stuffit or VISE, but these are expensive packages and "overqualified" for my needs. I need something more simple
Nava Carmon
2009-09-08 05:14:49
OSX installer doesn't have a concept of "uninstall". They just can't get anything right...
Eugene
2009-09-08 05:19:48
@Eugene - I have seen uninstallers, but for most things just trashing the .app is sufficient.
Chris Lutz
2009-09-08 05:30:31
@Nava - what do you mean by "differentiate between systems", is this really something that the installer needs to do?
Timothy Walters
2009-09-08 05:43:17
I have 2 executables: one for leopard and one for snow leopard. I'd like users to have a single installer, that can install one of these 2 versions, depending on target system. The package will contain both executables of course
Nava Carmon
2009-09-08 06:06:20
@Eugene, there are uninstallers, especially for software, that disperse its components into multiple folders on the system. Adobe applications are good example. Most of mac applications are self-contained, so indeed trashing the .app wipes everything in most cases. Windows is a bit more complicated story, because you never know what the installer puts on your computer...
Nava Carmon
2009-09-08 06:20:41
Yes, there are uninstallers, but they are not apple's. People must implement their own (we do). And users must remember to run them. First is a waste and a bit dangerous, second is unlikely.
Eugene
2009-09-09 02:13:08
+4
A:
OS X's built-in installer can be scripted, either via shell script (or any other executable) at particular stages of the install, or customized much more pervasively using JavaScript. Read the Software Delivery Guide for OS X.
Barry Wark
2009-09-08 05:25:05
It's not clear from the question what type of script control is needed, but Apple's installer package format (see "Managed Installs" under Barry's link) almost certainly supplies what you need: you can use a script to initiate and control the install, and also embed scripts in the package itself to control the installation in a variety of ways. Also, PackageMaker is free as part of Xcode.
Gordon Davisson
2009-09-09 00:38:15