This is just a guess, but I would think it should work. Although some of your changes in the custom pkgs might be reset, depending on how you did them.

/usr/sbin/installer -verbose -pkg “10.5.2update.pkg” -target “/Volumes/10.5.2 System”

Although this might work, the point of the InstaDMG script is that it can be run overnight with any additional updates. As well as tying into some other super apps that I have not gotten a handle of yet. Having to do each update with this command kinda defeats the purpose of having a script do it for you.

To be fair, I see good use of just updating an image with the latest update and not wanting to run the instaDMG script again. But that should be against your SLA, right?

Good luck, and let us know if it works.

[QUOTE][u]Quote by: thegooch49[/u][p]Hmmm….I hear what you guys are saying. Thanks for the input. I think I’ll be updating the images for application point updates, like an updated Firefox or Adium. I can totally see how running an Apple system update might stomp over custom updates. It doesn’t really seem worth the time to re-run instaDMG for a minor point upgrade for one of these apps. At the same time, I want the image that I deploy to have the latest application updates on it.

This is kinda deviating from my initial question, but are you guys all truly able to use one image? For all hardware? I love that you can simply just run instaDMG overnight, but can still consume some time. Maybe I have engineered something wrong along the way. I am not able to have a universal image between all hardware. I have a PPC image, and an Intel image for one. Why? There are a couple of apps that are not yet universal. The 2 that I have are MacPorts and Acrobat Reader. If I install the Intel version of MacPorts, it will not run on a PPC and vice versa. Same with Acrobat Reader. These 2 apps made me split my images so that I now have PPC and Intel images. I’m sure I could engineer some way to install those 2 applications after the fact so it’s truly a universal image, but that would just take up more time AFTER I’ve imaged the system. MacPorts for 1 takes some time to sync it’s index files. I then use it to install cfengine. I would then have to install Acrobat Reader, and update it. This would take significant time post image, and I would rather do it during the image creation (resulting in 2 diffn’t images).

To split things even further, we just got a MacBook air. The 10.5.2 ASR image I made off of my 10.5.2 retail DVD didn’t work on this system. I had to run instaDMG on the MB Air, using it’s system restore CDs. This gives me a 3rd image. When Firefox 2.0.0.18 comes out, I don’t necessarily want to re-compile and run instaDMG on 3 different systems to update my image. Sure, it runs overnight and is painless, but it’s still time consuming.

I would love some advice.

Thanks a bunch for the help![/p][/QUOTE]

Well, I’m in a different situation. Before intel we only had a few images, with different software. After the Intel switch, we had to start making images for each hardware platform and updating it when new hardware came in. This became tedious and too much work. We did it using the old method of making a gold master computer and imaging it.

We had stopped doing this because it soon came much quicker to just install the couple apps needed and deploy.

We now are almost completely rid of our PPC, so we only create Intel images. InstaDMG can help with some of the different platforms by using a dvd that would install to all of them. But we also try to suggest computers to purchase so we end up with a standard laptop and desktop to deploy.

So no, so far I have not been able to use one image for all my computers. But I can make a couple different images for each platform.

I also just netboot the Leopard Installer disc for computers that are already in place running tiger. Makes it easier than re-imaging.

Also, one last tidbit of info. We support a 1 to 1 initiative that gives laptops to student teachers. 180, over the last year, Macbooks have been out in the hands of these teachers. We used 5 Images for these laptops. While all the OS stuff was the same, different apps were installed for each of the groups. This is where I thing InstaDMG will make the most sense for me. I can get a good OS working and then drop on the apps I need for each image.

At least that’s the plan, I just hope it comes together…

Rusty

Depending on Josh’s release timing and your exact needs, you could consider using the “Post-actions” portion of NetRestore to run pkgs after imaging. You could use those pkgs to either install software or delete software. Our current build process involves a single NetBoot image with a pair of copies of NetRestore, each with different sets of Post-actions depending on the OS installed. I’m on the fence whether this would be better than re-rolling the images, plus InstaDMG 2.0 would make the work moot.

A software distribution system (FileWave, Radmind) that separates the OS from the distributed applications would be something to think about, but I realize not everyone has the time and resources for that solution.