10.6 Snow Leopard InstallerChoices.xml

You can get all the options for the installer (the exact names) by using the installer command.

It should be something like:

installer -showChoicesXML -pkg /path/to/osinstall/pkg.pkg

I forget the name of the actual package, but it is buried within the OS install DVD.

My current installerchoices.xml looks like this:

<array>
	<string>Popular_PrinterDrivers</string>
	<string>Host_PrinterDrivers</string>
	<string>LanguageTranslations</string>
</array>

For the stuff you are wanting, it should look something like this:

<array>
        <string>All_PrinterDrivers</string>
	<string>LanguageTranslations</string>
	<string>AdditionalFonts</string>
        <string>Rosetta</string>
</array>

According to the options that the command I mentioned spits out, X11 is installed by default as well as QuickTime Player 7 (Somehow I don’t remember this being default when I installed from CD). As a result, you don’t need those in the installerchoices file.

I think that covers it. Let me know if it fixes any of the issues for you.

benfeea1,

Don’t forget to target a blank drive when building InstallerChoices like I mentioned at the bottom of this post. I just pounded my head against the wall for a few hours until I remembered to point installer to a blank drive. You’ll get all sorts of goofy things (like the InstallerChoices file not appearing to apply correctly) if you leave installer pointed at the default of / .

– Patrick

I’m struggling with this as well. I’m using 1.6b1 of instadmg as well as the provided 10.6_vanilla.catalog file to build an image. When I drop my installerchoices.xml file in with my base OS DVD image, the process only takes 8 minutes and I end up with a non-functioning, 835MB image. Here are the contents of my installerchoices file:

<array>
	<string>PrinterDriversGroup</string>
	<string>Guten_Printer_Drivers</string>
	<string>AdditionalFonts</string>
	<string>LanguageTranslations</string>
</array>

I’ve also cleared out the cached base OS image so that it creates a new one. I saw this in the output. Notice that it only takes 17 seconds on my Mac Pro to run the installer based on the installerchoices file:

10:39:04 ###### Beginning Installation from /private/tmp/InstaDMG_temp_folder.qDZxUX/mount_point.AHvGGt ######
Installing system from: /private/tmp/InstaDMG_temp_folder.qDZxUX/mount_point.AHvGGt onto image at: /tmp/mount_point.rTJ5Bs using InstallerChoices file: ./InstallerFiles/BaseOS/InstallerChoices.xml and language code: en
Base OS installed
Compacting and saving cached image to: ./Caches/BaseImageCache/713800C0_d0bb44c38eb28ae51d4164d422c58035ad163373.dmg
10:39:21 ###### Looking for a Cached Image ######

Any tips on the proper formatting or syntax of this xml file for v1.6b1?

That worked. I was able to keep my installer image, but that choices file worked. I added the Languages line since I don’t need those in my image. Thanks again.

<array>
		<string>Popular_PrinterDrivers</string>
		<string>AdditionalFonts</string>
		<string>LanguageTranslations</string>
		<string>X11</string>
		<string>Rosetta</string>
		<string>QuickTimePlayer7</string>
</array>

Hey sketch,

The -target flag and path after it is unnecessary.

Allister

Quote by: sketch

Allister wrote:

Hey sketch,

The -target flag and path after it is unnecessary.

Allister

No difference

Try just this:

sudo installer -showChoicesXML -pkg /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ DVD/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg

Does that give you any output whatsoever?

Hey sketch,

This is 10.6 client, right ? What is the build number of the OS on the disc?

Allister