PackageMaker Issues

I am having an issue with launching a PackageMaker file (Installer File built with PackageMaker).
When I launch it, other PackageMaker installers also appear that I did not double-click.
This has happened before, and I rebuilt the PackageMaker file. This time, I can't seem to get around it.
I even opened up an Installer created with PackageMaker days ago, and it is opening all my installers, as if I am going to run multiple installs.
Any help would be appreciated.
Aaton

Thanks for that. That does make sense, and I am sure it is because of that Mountain Lion restoring open documents, but they are all closed and PackageMaker (the app) is not running. I don't think this is going to affect my customer's however, since chances are they are only going to launch one installer at a time. It's just disheartening to know that Mountain Lion is trying so hard to make it "easy" but it is only making it confusing. Below is a screenshot of what "sometimes" happens when I launch one installer. It launches both:
Aaton

Similar Messages

PackageMaker scripts issue

I have an installer that needs to drop a file within an already installed bundle. Using the GUI PackageMaker I drop the file at the level of the bundle. I then use a script to move my file within the bundle and assign the proper rights. If I run the installer as an admin everything is fine. As a standard user, the file is zero bytes once moved within the bundle. PackageMaker is set to require admin authorization. I also have a preinstall/preupgrade script removing the file if it already is in the bundle. This fails as the standard user. The weird thing is the PackageMaker claims the install was successful even though the scripts have issues.
I am assuming that PackageMaker cannot have a destination be within a bundle. Is there another install product that would be better suited for this without the need for scripting?
Message was edited by: Aikidokatech
Message was edited by: Aikidokatech

andyboutte wrote:
packagemacker has been very inconsistent for me with owner and group.
PackageMaker is very consistent with owner and group. It is always root:admin.
I have had to start setting the owner and group in my post flight script. Is anybody else having these problems? are we doing something wrong or is it packagemaker?
PackageMaker is certainly a pain, but if you are setting your own permissions, then you probably aren't doing something correctly.

Pkg's made by PackageMaker from Xcode4.2 stopped working after Mountain Lion 10.8.1 upgrade!

We have some pkg's that used to install fine across Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion.
Those pkg's were made from PackageMaker that came with Xcode4.2.
Since last week's Mountain Lion 10.8.1 upgrade, the pkg's preflight/postflight scripts stopped working
on Mountain Lion machines, but still work with Lion and Snow Leopard.
The current workaround we use is to produce the pkg using PackageMaker that comes from Xcode4.4 auxiliary tools.
These pkg's work fine on all mentioned OS X.
I think this should be either a bug in 10.8.1 upgrade or a change of policy.
Can someone reproduce and clarify?
Thanks!

You are not alone!!
Same problem with Plantronics.
I just bought their Audio 648 Stereo USB Headset and have exactly the same issue you mention at the outset:
Essentially, while my [Plantronics Audio 648] Headset is recognized in the list of devices in System Preferences > Sound, it doesn't do anything in terms of outputting or inputting audio
So Apple, what are you going to do?...
A lot of third party accessory manufacturers must be getting quite frustrated at the numer of complaints they get from Mac users, when it seems its the Mac OS which is to blame...

Can Packagemaker create installer with content files outside the bundle?

I'm trying to create an installer with Packagemaker, but the content files need to be outside the final bundle because they're shared with a Windows installer.
I thought I could create a symbolic link to the external folder, but instead of linking from the installer, it copied the files into the bundle. Any idea how to do this, or if it's even possible? I need to be able to do this on 10.3+, if that's relevant.
(I can give a more specific scenario if this isn't clear enough)
Thanks!

zekel wrote:
The main issue I'd be worried about is that the external files (which are quite large) won't have the appropriate progress bar. The external files are around 1GB, while the internal files are in the 30MB range.
How about installing a secondary installer with progress bar that copies these files from the correct location. Your postflight script can just kick off the newly installed file copier.
How's this sound for a hack...
Have a launcher script copy the installer to /tmp, then modify the package to point my files. (I'm installing from read-only media.) It would then open the modified installer which would pull my files from the DVD. This would probably work better (read: at all) if the files aren't compressed inside the package. Do you know if that's an option?
No, sorry. The internals of a package are quite specific. You need PackageMaker itself to build them.
Things like the receipts are non-essential at this point, only because if I can't get this to work then we will continue to use our terrible installer which leaves none of those things. Those shouldn't be too much trouble if I can get the rest to work.
There are some 3rd party installers like Installer VISE. The sad part is that they tend to make the MacOS X Installer look good.
If the guy responsible for that is interested I'll show him Inno Setup, but we have a working Windows installer, so he probably won't want to mess with it.
I agree, but tell him about it anyway. The next time you have to build a Windows installer, he could use Inno Setup and get it done in a couple of hours and then have time to help with the mess that is software deployment on MacOS X.

Packagemaker 3.0.3. get user's installation preferences

Hi all,
i have a small problem that seems to be caused by my lack of knowledge on the issue. Basically, what I am trying to do is to create an installer for my application with the PackageMaker.app. I am stuck on one place though, how can I 'get' a user's input during the installation and feed it to a script which is getting started after the install.
Example: I give the user 4 language choices during the installation - german, japanese, french and english. The user chooses one of those and according to this choice my post-install script has to do different things.
Does anybody know how can I achieve such behaivior?
Thanks in advance.
Regards
artOf...

I am still struggling with the postinstall script... The problem is the PackageMaker does not give ANY language information to my script i tried many different things for example:
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/env
echo "arg0: '"$0"'"
echo "arg1: '"$1"'"
echo "arg2: '"$2"'"
echo "arg3: '"$3"'"
echo "arg4: '"$4"'"
echo "arg5: '"$5"'"
echo "arg6: '"$6"'"
echo "arg7: '"$7"'"
echo "arg8: '"$8"'"
echo "pkgpath: $PACKAGE_PATH"
echo "language: $LANG"
echo "messageLanguage: $LC_MESSAGE"
echo "environment: $ENV"
The output is:
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg0: '/private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall'
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg1: '/Developer/Projects/TS-S2/code/trunk/Mac/TS-S2/Setup/BETA/MyApplication - Installer.pkg'
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg2: '/Applications'
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg3: '/'
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg4: 'upgrade'
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg5: ''
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg6: ''
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg7: ''
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: arg8: ''
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: pkgpath:
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: language:
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: messageLanguage:
...imac /private/tmp/scripts.eDmN/./postinstall[1503]: environment:
Where you can see that more then half of the variables are empty. Also the '/usr/bin/env' outputs nothing related to language or localization... I think, I set the localization properly in the packageMaker interface so the problem should be somewhere in the script. I am not experienced at all with writing scripts so I am guessing that is the problem. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!
-artOf...

PackageMaker & ScreenSaver Setup

Hello,
I'm trying to create an installer for my ScreenSaver using PackageMaker. everything works fine, excepts that I cannot select the screensaver I just installed as the current one.
I have written the following PostFlight script :
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver moduleName ToDoScreenSaver
/usr/bin/defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver modulePath "/Library/Screen Savers/ToDoScreenSaver.saver"
I'm sure this script is properly executed because it is launched if I add another command to the script.
But the value in the preferences are not changed. There's no error message, everything seems to be okay, but the script simply does nothing.
Is there anybody someone that could help me ?
David

First follow the instructions in this support article.
If an iPhoto or Aperture library is the source of your desktop pictures, it may need to be rebuilt, or you may need to update the application to the latest version.
Otherwise, continue as below.
Back up all data.
In the Finder, hold down the option key and select
Go ▹ Library
from the menu bar. From the Library folder, delete the following item, if it exists:
Caches/com.apple.systempreferences
and move the following items to the Desktop, if they exist:
Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db
Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Launch System Preferences and test. If you still have the issue, put the items you moved to the Desktop back where they came from and post again. Otherwise, delete the items.

Packagemaker won't let me in

I'm trying to use Packagemaker to create a package installer for Firefox 3. When I open Packagemaker (version 3.0.2), it asks for the Organization (which I've typed in) and the minimum target (which I've chosen). But the Ok button is grayed out. I'm not able to do anything else with Packagemaker, it apparently will only move on if I've put that info and hit the Ok button.
Any one else having this issue? Should I just reinstall the Developer Tools?

I originally used version 2 to make packages, but it quit working in January. Before, I would make a package to install (for example) Firefox 2.0.0.12. When 2.0.0.13 came out, I would open the Firefox 2.0.0.12 Packagemaker files, update them for the new app, change the permissions appropriately, rename stuff, etc, etc, then build the new package.
As of January, everything would work fine, until I tried to use the package that was built. It came up blank and give an error that says there's nothing in the package to install. I hadn't changed anything with the Packagemaker files, hadn't updated anything during Christmas break...hadn't changed a thing, but it just built dead installer packages.
So I gave up on Packagemaker and started using Composer from Casper. It's slow and a pain to use, but worked fine until yesterday. It locked up and I force quit it and somehow it deleted my entire external hard drive (goodbye iTunes collection). I'm currently running Data Rescue software on the drive to get my files back. Since I recently upgraded to Leopard, I figured there would be an updated version of Packagemaker, so went to use that, but I ran into this issue.
I'll try Iceberg (I knew there another app, just couldn't remember the name of it) and we'll see how that goes. Thanks for the response.

PackageMaker: Set Permissions on Applications Subdirectory

Hello everyone --
I'm new to the Apple package making process and running into some interesting issues. I developed a series of scripts wrapped into Automator applications which I want to deploy to a subdirectory of Applications (ex /Applications/Mypp/). I have each component Destination set to this path. One of the components in the package is itself an Automator application which performs some auxiliary functions. This auxiliary application is triggered to run after all components are deployed to the /Applications/MyApp directory via a Postinstall "Open File" action.
Issue: The package does everything I expect when deploying to Leopard systems either locally (double-click the pkg file and install manually) or remotely (via ARD). However, the package does NOT behave as expected when deploying to a Snow Leopard system. The specific issue is that the package is creating the subdirectory in Applications with unexpected ownership and permissions; ownership: [alternate local admin]:wheel, permissions 700. With these permissions, the auxiliary applications do not have permission to execute. The auxiliary apps and scripts are copied into the /Applications/MyApp subdirectory with the chmod permissions I set in PackageMaker.
I believe the way out of this debacle is to use a Preinstall script. I tried implementing a Preinstall script by writing a Bash script (named preflight, set chmod ug+x) containing the following:
#!/bin/bash
/bin/mkdir /Applications/MyApp
/bin/chmod 775 /Applications/MyApp
The script Destination is /private/tmp, is copied there successfully, but is not executing as expected.
I think that the solution to this problem is somewhere in the nuance of the Preinstall or preflight process, but I'm unable to figure this out.
I am using PackageMaker v3.0.3 on OS X Server 10.5.8 to build the package. Target systems are Snow Leopard 10.6.4.
Any clues? I know I've seen some people complaining about PackageMaker, but I refuse to give up and use a .dmg unless absolutely necessary.

mdecheser wrote:
I'm new to the Apple package making process and running into some interesting issues. I developed a series of scripts wrapped into Automator applications which I want to deploy to a subdirectory of Applications (ex /Applications/Mypp/). I have each component Destination set to this path.
Set the component destination to just /Applications and have MyApp as part of your component. Then it should honor whatever permissions you have set in your source.
Any clues? I know I've seen some people complaining about PackageMaker, but I refuse to give up and use a .dmg unless absolutely necessary.
I wouldn't consider that any admission of defeat. Apple itself has stopped recommending the use of Package Maker. http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/S oftwareDistribution/Overview/Overview.html
The nature and structure of your product determine the install experience you can provide to its
users. If your product is a self-contained application (one that doesn’t need to install components
at different locations in the file system), you can distribute it as a single file or folder. Users then
can drag the product from its container or delivery vehicle to a location of their choice in their file
systems. This type of installation process is called manual install. This is the preferred method of
delivering applications to Mac OS X users.
However, there are situations that require more complex products. For example, some applications
require the presence of shared resources such as frameworks or fonts, which, in general, reside at
/Library/Frameworks and /Library/Fonts, respectively. Each item that resides at a distinct location
on the file system is known as a component. To make it easy for users to install a multicomponent
product, instead of making users place each component in the appropriate location you develop an
appealing install that frees users from that tedious and error-prone task. To that end, the Installer
application (/Applications/Utilities) uses a simple interface to guide users through the process of
installing multicomponent products. This type of installation process is known as a managed
install.
You use PackageMaker (/Developer/Applications/Utilities) to develop a managed install.

Why did PackageMaker Turned my Application into a folder?

I used PackageMaker to create a package to install Font Reserve. After the package was made and installed I noticed that all went into the correct places but my font reserve application is now a folder. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank-you.
Multiple Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Yea the Dev. Tools are on the MAC OS X CD.....or you can download it from the Apple Developer Website to get the latest. Can try it and see what happens like I said it fixed my issues, but to my knowledge from what I read around the net you shouldn't need to install Developer Tools to use Package Maker, but again thats what fixed my issue.
One thing I never tried though was using the PackageMaker off the ARD CD. I have always downloaded the latest Dev. Tools and used the Package Maker that came with it, but it sounds as if that the version you are using is the version off the ARD CD. Thats my best guess.....install the Dev. Tools and try that out.
Thanks,
Dan

PackageMaker doesn't include empty folders

I am trying to create a package that contains empty folders. Items may be installed into these folders from another program. All items are listed when I authenticate to archive the Package_contents on building. Most of the empty folders are not in the final package.
My example Package_contents contains where all icm and firmware directories are empty:
/usr/local/share/foo2/
/usr/local/share/foo2/icm/
/usr/local/share/foo3/
/usr/local/share/foo3/crd/
/usr/local/share/foo3/crd/file1
/usr/local/share/foo3/crd/file2
/usr/local/share/foo3/icm/
/usr/local/share/foo4/
/usr/local/share/foo4/firmware/
/usr/local/share/foo4/icm/
The package as built by PackageMaker v2.1.1(123) in OS X 10.4.9 contains:
/usr/local/share/foo2/
/usr/local/share/foo2/icm/
/usr/local/share/foo3/
/usr/local/share/foo3/crd/
/usr/local/share/foo3/crd/file1
/usr/local/share/foo3/crd/file2
/usr/local/share/foo4/
Is there some way to get all the empty directories included in the build?
Matt
Mac Mini G4; B&W G3/300

I tried putting some dummy files in the empty
folders. They got included in the package as I
would
have expected. I think this is a bit messy.
True. It is a bit messy but you can always include
some code in your application which deletes the dummy
files the first time it runs... or perhaps build the
delete into the post flight script.
It would probably be less messy and less confusing to create the package with the dummy or placeholder files and delete them in the postflight. It would seem to make more sense and "be more honest" to list "placeholder" files of zero bits in the Archive.bom than to create extra directories in the postflight.
As I mentioned in my previous response, PackageMaker 1.2 running in OS X 10.3.9 builds the package as I want, so I won't have to deal with the issue.
Matt

Dbl clk .pkg brings up PackageMaker instead of the installer

I am trying to upgrade OS 10.4.7 to 10.4.8 on a Dual G5. I can't get a new airport card to work (which is my connection to the internet). I downloaded the OS update on my G3 laptop. If I dbl clk on it on the laptop, the installer starts up. I saved the OS update on a USB flash drive. Sneaker net to my Dual G5. Dbl-clk on the G5 and PackageMaker (not the installer) comes up. I haven't been able to get the installer to start. How do I get the installer to come up on my dual G5?

Select the icon for the installer package and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the section labeled Open With select Installer from the drop down menu then click on the Change All button. If Installer is not listed in the drop down menu then use Other and navigate to the Utilities folder to select it.
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Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Startup item and PackageMaker

I have a script which can wake a daemon up. I want to make a installation package which can install my applicatoin, daemon and create a startupitems to run that script to execute daemon when machine's startup. Any idea how can I do it in packagemaker. thank you!

You do not need a binary. Just the directory with the plist and script.
Create a directory:
/System/Library/StartupItems/amavisdstarter
Create a script called /System/Library/StartupItems/amavisdstarter/amavisdstarter with roughly the following contents (adjust to your needs):
#!/bin/sh
# amavisd startup item
. /etc/rc.common
StartService ()
/usr/bin/amavisd plusyour_parameters_as_you_usethem;
StopService ()
if [ -f /path/to/your/amavisd.pidfile ]; then
kill `cat /path/to/your/amavisd.pidfile` && rm -f /path/to/your/amavisd.pidfile
RETVAL=$?
[ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && echo done. || echo failed.
else
echo not running.
fi
RestartService ()
StopService
sleep 1
StartService
RunService "$1"
Next create /System/Library/StartupItems/amavisdstarter/StartupParameters.plist:
Description = "amavisd content filter";
Provides = ("amavisd filter");
To manually start|stop amavisd issue:
/System/Library/StartupItems/amavisdstarter/amavisdstarter start|stop
It will start automatically on reboot.
HTH,
Alex
P.S. Not sure why the board mangles this. Instad of http... enclose "-f /path/to/your/amavisd.pidfile " and "$RETVAL -eq 0 " in square brackets
Message was edited by: pterobyte

ARD 3.7.2 package install failure + Packagemaker

I recently downloaded ARD in hopes that I could use it to manage the Macs on my network. I am trying to use the "install" option but when I do I get the error "mypackage.pkg" could not be installed. Error message " ". That's not terribly informative. My issue at the moment though is that I can't find a lof or report that I can use to troubleshoot. Where is the error log? Also, where can I get packagemaker? I have googled around and some posts say that it can be downloaded from the dev's site (I could not find it there) and others say that it's included with ARD. A few posts said something about Xgrid so I tried to download it from the app store but I keep getting an error that it can't be downloaded, please try again. And help would be greatly appreciated!

Does your package install ok when you do it interactively?
The Console App on the target machine may have error messages that will give you a clue.
Often packages that work fine interactively do not work via ARD install. The fix is usually to repackage the app.
Historially, packagemaker was distributed free to developers as part of XCode. Not sure about pkgbuid.
You may also want to take a look at Jamf Composer. Its sold seperately from their Casper Suite. We find it helpful for repackaging.

Packagemaker 3.0.3. administration rights?!

Hello,
I have just finished implementing my new application and I am now aiming at making the installer look and feel nice. All the cosmetic features are clear and intuitive so I had no problem with them. What I do have problem with is setting the "administration rights". To be more clear: I would like to give the user a chance to install my application (/myAppFolder/myApp.app) anywhere on the harddisk he chooses. When the chosen destination is the user's home directory everything works just fine (the application is installed in /myAppFolder/myApp.app). However, if any other location is chosen only the folder '/myAppFolder/' is installed and nothing in it! I checked the option that requires the user to enter the administrator password, so that should not be the problem. I guess my problem is that I do not have the slightest clue how the UNIX user rights are distributed, so I spent 4 hours yesterday packing/unpacking and trying different combinations of rights for both 'myAppFolder/' and the application package itself(myApp.app). I even made them both and all of their subfolders and subfiles world readable/writeable but nothing changes the fact that if 'myAppFolder/' is anywhere else other than the current user's home directory nothing is installed in this folder. I am a little frustrated here, I have found many tutorials and read a great deal of them but nothing written there seems to help. Please, if anyone has a suggestion or a set of rules that should be satisfied in order to install something on a UNIX based OS, just post it here I will really appreciate it-.
Best Regards
- artOf...

artOf... wrote:
1). Open the PM, input my company name, input a title for the install setup.
2). In the configuration tab: Check all the check boxes named 'Install Destination:'
If you are installing an application, the only thing you want here is System Volume. I understand you want to give users as much flexibility as possible, but PackageMaker just can't handle it. If you have some preference or database that could go into either /Library or ~/Library, you can pick System Volume or User Home Directory. If you have "something else", you can choose Volume Selected by User. Applications should go into System Volume. PackageMaker just gets so confused on these options that you will never figure it out - at least I know I can't.
3). Edit Interface(cosmetic stuff)
I would put this off until last.
4). I have a folder 'MyAppFolder' and an application MyApp.app inside that folder, I issue the command 'sudo chown -R root:admin MyAppFolder' and just to be sure the same command on the MyApp.app package.
You don't have to do it twice. The "-R" option will do do that for you.
5). I drag and drop 'MyAppFolder' in the 'Contents' tab of my PM setup.(here I am not sure, I drag and drop the folder containing the application so I am assuming I don't have to drop the application separatedly.)
You can do either one, but you would have to change the Contents -> "Include root in package" setting.
6). Select the newly dragged folder and choose 'Configuration' for it. Check 'Allow custom location' and set the destination to '/Applications'.
Don't check that box. I've never gotten it to work. Plus it will conflict with the Volume settings from above. Just keep the destination as /Applications.
Set the 'Package Identifier' to an integer that I never used before.
An integer? That's not right. The package identifier should be something like "com.mycompany.ipodsyncscpt.pkg". The version is an integer.
7). On the 'Contents' tab I just check the checkbox called 'include in root package'.
This may or may not be correct. Build the installer and test it. If it doesn't install the top-level directory, then turn this option on.
8). Build(no warnings or errors), run(choosing 'Machintosh HD' for installation destination), go through all the rest of the steps(enter the admin password).
9). Check under 'Machintosh HD/Applications' for 'MyAppFolder'(it is there).
10). The folder is empty?!
Simplify you settings and try it again. Remember, you are working with stone tools here. You've got to keep it simple. In your installer, show the log and tell it to show everything. That might tell you something - and might not.

PackageMaker and "Could not create temporary BOM" Error

I have spent the last couple of nights trying to figure out why PackageMaker 3.0.4 (179) wouldn't build a package and kept failing on "Could not create temporary BOM" error. In case someone else runs into this, point your package content to an actual directory (folder), not a symlink, that should resolve this issue.
PS. BOM stands for "Bill Of Materials", not "Byte Order Mark", which also threw me for a loop.

Originally Posted by AndersG
I think we need engineering to look at this. Any chance of opening an
SR?
Anders Gustafsson (NKP)
The Aaland Islands (N60 E20)
Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit:
http://www.novell.com/rms
Thanks we have logged a SR for this

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