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Creating Snapshot Packages with packagemaker |
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Written by Patrick McNeal
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Wednesday, 29 March 2006 |
In XCode 2.2, Apple quietly introduced a new snapshot option to
packagemaker that can create a package by tracking changes to a
specific directory. The man page for packagemaker has been
updated, but the current version, XCode 2.2.1, contains a couple of
mistakes and no examples. This article hopes to fill in the missing pieces.
PackageMakerOverview
Creating a package with snapshots is broken into three steps:
- Snapshot the current state of a directory
- Add, install or modify files in the directory
- Create package containing the modifications
Step One: Create Snapshot
/Developer/Tools/PackageMaker
--snapshot root-path \
destination-path
This command will cause PackageMaker to create a destination-path.snapshot directory
that contains an Info.plist and a bill of materials describing the
current state of root-path. To simplify step three, I've found
it's easier to enter an absolute path for root-path, though it may not
be necessary in all cases.
Step Two: Make Modifications
At this point you can install your software. Since we are only
watching one directory, PackageMaker will not capture any modifications
made to other parts of the file system.
Step Three: Create Package
/Developer/Tools/PackageMaker
-build -snapshot destination-path.snapshot \
-i
PATH-TO-Info.plist -b /tmp -p destination-path
Contrary to what the current man page says, -p and -i are
required. destination-path.snapshot specifies the location of the
snapshot from step one. You have to add ".snapshot" to
destination-path as PackageMaker automatically appended it.
Info-file specifies an Info.plist to use when creating the
package. destination-path is the name of the package to create,
including ".pkg," where the final package will be located.
Examples
Backup your system
before making any modifications. These examples have worked for
me, but I make no guarantees about how they will work for you.
To use the examples, create a simple Info.plist in your working
directory. The plist format is very important, as the snapshot function will fail if not created correctly. Here is an
example:
CFBundleGetInfoString
foo
CFBundleIdentifier
com.macenterprise.foo
CFBundleShortVersionString
0.1
IFMajorVersion
0
IFMinorVersion
0
IFPkgFlagAllowBackRev
IFPkgFlagAuthorizationAction
AdminAuthorization
IFPkgFlagBackgroundAlignment
topleft
IFPkgFlagBackgroundScaling
none
IFPkgFlagDefaultLocation
/
IFPkgFlagFollowLinks
IFPkgFlagInstallFat
IFPkgFlagInstalledSize
0
IFPkgFlagIsRequired
IFPkgFlagOverwritePermissions
IFPkgFlagRelocatable
IFPkgFlagRestartAction
NoRestart
IFPkgFlagRootVolumeOnly
IFPkgFlagUpdateInstalledLanguages
IFPkgFormatVersion
0.10000000149011612
Simple Example
In this example, we'll create a simple package that installs one file. In testing, an empty directory will not work, as the snapshot command will produce a corrupt pacakge.
Create the directory we'll be watching:
mkdir
foo
touch foo/test
Make snapshot of the directory:
/Developer/Tools/PackageMaker
--snapshot `pwd`/foo \
/tmp/foo
Install file:
touch
foo/bar
Create package:
/Developer/Tools/PackageMaker
-build -snapshot /tmp/foo.snapshot \
-i
Info.plist -p /tmp/foo.pkg
Test Package:
open
/tmp/foo.pkg
Complex Example
In this example, we'll create a package for Firefox.
Make snapshot of /Applications:
/Developer/Tools/PackageMaker
--snapshot /Applications
/tmp/Applications
Using lsbom, we can see what was snapshot:
lsbom
/tmp/Applications.snapshot/Contents/snapshot.bom
Download Firefox, and drag the application into /Applications
Create package:
/Developer/Tools/PackageMaker
-build -snapshot /tmp/Application.snapshot \
-i
Info.plist -p /tmp/FireFox.pkg
Test Package:
open
/tmp/Firefox.pkg
Note: One of the problems is that extraneous files can be captured with the snapshot utility. The most notable type of file is .DS_Store files. Add the -ds switch to filter out these types of files.
Next, the Installer will not have a descriptive name, instead being called "My Great App". This problem can be remedied by including a Description.plist file, and using the -d option. Here is an example:
IFPkgDescriptionDescription
IFPkgDescriptionTitle
Foo
For more information on customizing your package through Info.plist and
other settings, see Apple's documentation.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 14 July 2006 )
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