I see a couple of threads about re-packaging Adobe CS4, so I'll try not to duplicate previously offered information.

A few people from the MacEnterprise list asked me how I accomplished re-packaging CS4, this forum seemed like as good a place as any to post what I've done.

By no means should anything I say be accepted as gospel truth. The Creative Suites are such beasts to re-package, you may find a better method and I'd be happy to hear about it. Feel free to offer suggestions.

Here's what I did...

1. took a before system snapshot with logGen
2. installed the Design Premium version of CS4 from DVD media on a freshly imaged 10.5.6 machine, I omitted a few things I knew my organization didn't need - Version Cue & Acrobat.com specifically
3. did NOT apply any Adobe updates
4. run logGen and create a post install diff file
5. manually parse the diff file and separate it into the following app/support file specific package content lists:

Adobe AIR with CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Acrobat 9 CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Bridge CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Device Central CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Extension Manager CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Fireworks CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Flash CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Fonts with CS4-diff.txt ***
Adobe Illustrator CS4-diff.txt
Adobe InDesign CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Media Encoder CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Media Player with CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Photoshop CS4-diff.txt
Adobe Shared Files CS4-diff.txt ***

Just out of interest why didn't you use LanRev Install Ease, I created my CS3 packages using loggen/pkggen/Iceberg and I'll attest it works pretty well.

However now that Install Ease is free (as in beer), I have swiched my snapshot package making to use it, and have just finished packaging up my CS4 deployment using InstallEase and Iceberg. The whole experience was a good deal faster and more pleasant than I remember the CS3 one being.

Maybe I am missing something, but I don't really understand why anyone would still be using loggen/pkggen any more save for the desire to only build packages using open source tools, which I suppose is fair enough.

FWIW I went ahead and upgraded my CS4 suite to the current latest release using the adobe updater prior to taking my second snapshot and it appear to work fine.

Haven't yet rolled it into an instaDMG build (that will be later this evening), but its worked well when deployed via ARD.

Glad it worked out for you anyhows.

I'm a unix/cli guy.

loggen and pkggen just feel better to me.

I admit the gui tools work - Composer, InstallEase, etc.

It's just comfort that's all.

Hi pteeter

Adobe AIR with CS4-diff.txt
etc...

I am well behind both of you guys. I really don't care what method I use, I just can't get a working package for CS4. Right now I am just trying Photoshop, and can't get a working pkg.

I have tried both of your methods. With the loggen route I got licensing errors I could not recover from. Tried again, and got the same problems. Today I tried the lanrev method, and it encounters errors when I tried to install the straight .pkg, and also when I used the iceberg route. I did not do any updates just used the lanrev snapshot method.

Any replies, private messages, or e-mails would be greatly appreciated.

sincerely,
adobe cs confused ;

I used the LanRev application to make a CS4 package and it worked well. When snapshotting there are a number of things that could potentially cause your snapshot to be inaccurate or be problematic when installing etc. What I did was install CS4 on a clean install of Leopard (10.5.7 not that it matters) and took a snapshot with LanRev. I then took the Iceberg package and removed some things that weren't needed, such as the files it installed into my local User's directory. I did keep what it installed into /Users/Shared. As long as you are only installing CS4 and not doing anything else your snapshot shouldn't need any modification when you bring it into Iceberg besided what it installs into your User's folder(s) besides 'Shared'.

I started the snapshot as soon as I hit 'Install'. Before you start the Installation and the Snapshot you should have input the serial number so you shouldn't encounter any licensing issues, if you are are you sure you are not having a licensing problem even when you are not installing CS4 from your custom.pkg? Once you open the Iceberg project hit Command-B and build it and it should be fine.

I think posting my diff files will help A LOT.

Look in the My Downloads section of AFP548.com for the latest/newest addition.

Pull the zip archive down and find these files:

Please now download files from the My Downloads section of AFP548.com.

The same diff files and scripts are now available here.

Thanks.

Hi pteeter,

I'm wondering if you have files for the newest CS4 updates as well?

The real question is, why do we put up with major software developers putting us through the agony of their BS custom installers. It would be one thing if they actually made our lives easier, or if there wasn't a standard installer package format with lots of free tools and no licensing costs to use. It's another entirely when they just make unnecessary work for us. Adobe (and Mathworks, and a few others) should build .pkg installers, especially if they are building a .msi for Windows.

Grumble grumble grumble.

I've just been repackaging the whole enchilada using Composer 7.

What I do is:

• use the Deployment Toolkit to create the custom silent installer that is pre-serialized and has auto-updates and registration turned off
  
• use that silent installer
  
• apply all updates
  
• launch Acrobat and Distiller, and modify the required files to kill self-healing
  
• copy the required Acrobat/Distiller preferences (and com.adobe.registration.118 to the User Template (non_localized) folder
  
• add in a postflight script that
  • creates the required symlinks to the /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles and /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended inside the /Library/ColorSync directory
    
  • copies the preferences FROM the user template folder to all already pre-existing home directories
    
  • sets Acrobat as the default PDF for all users
  
  
• complete the package.
  
  So far, so good.

This is a follow-up post to report the results of more experimentation.

First I tried it Adobe's way, but as described a few posts back: Package up the uber installer and the repository directories and dump them to the client, then run them after the Mac boots. It didn't work for me. I had exactly the same broken licensing as before, but worse because I would have had to run all the updates as well, plus the package weighed in at 5.5GB vs 3.8GB for my DIY package. Fuhgetit!

My last attempt used logGen and PkgGen to do what I had done before with Composer. No change. Licensing is always broken. What I did discover, however, is that it is important NOT to run Acrobat Pro or Distiller first. Running Photoshop first cut the number of steps down. I still have to touch every dang Mac to finish the config process, but it doesn't take 10 minutes per Mac any more. FWIW, here is the sequence:

1. Deploy as normal
2. Log into the lab user account
3. Launch Photoshop (or any CS4 app, but NOT Acrobat Pro or Distiller). Result: "Licensing for this product has stopped working."
4. Install AdobeLicenseFix.pkg via ARD (this pkg came from Adobe)

And that's it. Everything works now.

Note to Adobe: We shouldn't have to deal with this!

FYI by default Composer doesn't include files in /Library/Application Support/Adobe PCD/ which are required for licensing to work. I built my CS4 packages with Composer after changing the preferences in composer to include these files and it worked fine. They do this by default in case you are deploying an update and not the initial install.