ASR restore and other musings

I knew there was a better way to make consistent images. And now I found InstaDMG. Big Thanks to all the people who have provided information here. Truly amazing: I'm totally new at this, but I have managed to create working (basic OS) images in my first week of playing with InstaDMG, by using the information in this forum. I am still a noob at this, but will do some more research. I'm glad that the main InstaDMG script is in BASH, since I can [barely :)] get around in that. If/ when it changes to Python: I am apprehensive about having success learning a new language. I'm using MacBook Pro 15" SATA ExpressCard with multiple SATA drives Booted from 10.6.2, creating 10.6.0 and 10.6.2 images I've configured the InstaDMG paths so that most items are pointing to a different drive and SATA busses, and I get tremendous speed for testing. Installer dmg and patches on one drive (referenced via symlinks in the BaseUpdates folders), output folder on another drive and SATA cable, scratch space on another drive.) Good stuff. # -b Look for the base image in this folder (./InstallerFiles/BaseOS) # -c Look for custom pkgs in this folder (./InstallerFiles/CustomPKG) # -l Set the folder to use as the log folder (./Logs) # -o Set the folder to use as the output folder (./OutputFiles) # -t Create a scratch space in this folder (/private/tmp) # -u Use folder as the BaseUpdates folder (./InstallerFiles/BaseUpdates) I haven't been successful with the -I option, and don't understand what it does; -b seems to be the same to me. I don't understand what -J does, but maybe something to do with InstaUp2Date I don't understand what -K does; -c seems to be the same to me. I don't understand why both -b and -c exist. Maybe it's for organization. I keep thinking one folder (with numbered subfolders) for all the packages would be sufficient. Hmmm. Here are some changes I've made for *my* workflow: (I don't want to make too many changes, of course: I don't know how I will be able to migrate my changes to a newer version of InstaDMG) ----- I've noticed that when I ran InstaDMG there was some comment (in the logs? Dunno) about suggesting to use --noverify instead of --nocheck. Maybe --noverify doesn't work on an older OS like 10.4 or something, but for my purposes (10.6.2) I made the change to --noverify for fun. Changed this line [code] /usr/sbin/asr restore --verbose --source "${ASR_FOLDER}/$ASR_OUPUT_FILE_NAME" --target "$TESTING_TARGET_VOLUME" --erase --nocheck --noprompt | (while read INPUT; do log "$INPUT " detail; done) [/code] To this [code] /usr/sbin/asr restore --verbose --source "${ASR_FOLDER}/$ASR_OUPUT_FILE_NAME" --target "$TESTING_TARGET_VOLUME" --erase --noverify --noprompt | (while read INPUT; do log "$INPUT " detail; done)[/code] Wait. Read on. I have better stuff to say than that. :) ----- When I restore the final ASR image manually and option-booted to the [startup manager], the disk that I want to choose has the name: "EFI Boot" I added a line to change the Label of the volume so that when I option-boot it already has the name I want. I don't need need to do this modification at all, really, since it automagically gets fixed on the second boot anyway. But still, I like it. Added this: [code] /usr/sbin/bless --folder "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/System/Library/CoreServices" --label "Macintosh HD"[/code] Before this: [code] /usr/sbin/bless --mount "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" --setBoot --nextonly | (while read INPUT; do log "$INPUT " detail; done)[/code] I'm probably blessing the system twice, but I didn't have success/ know how to smoosh my label info in with the original/ existing line. I also didn't know what variable to use for the volume name, so I hard coded it "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" ----- I love the automated restore feature (-w and -y). I just start the script and walk away. When it is done I've already booted into the new OS for another test. I changed the blessing line so that it wouldn't change the boot OS permanently, and only changes to the new OS for the next boot. I like InstaDMG to automagically restore to a partition and boot. When I'm done checking whether my latest small change is working I only have to select restart, and my main computer goes right back to the main OS for more configuring and troubleshooting. Just a few more seconds of thinking-time shaved off for me. Added the --nextonly option for the bless command, to the existing line [code] /usr/sbin/bless --mount "$TESTING_TARGET_VOLUME" --setBoot --nextonly | (while read INPUT; do log "$INPUT " detail; done)[/code] ----- But I couldn't get InstaDMG to bless correctly until I made another change. The original line uses "$TESTING_TARGET_VOLUME". For my situation that appears to contain "Volumes/EraseMe" (-w option) But that volume name doesn't exist anymore after the automagic ASR step. ASR has renamed the volume "EraseMe" to "Macintosh HD" during the ASR process (because I use the -n option set to "Macintosh HD") So I changed the blessing line a second time by hard coding the newly restored partitions' name: [code] /usr/sbin/bless --mount "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" --setBoot --nextonly | (while read INPUT; do log "$INPUT " detail; done)[/code] I also didn't know what variable to use for the volume name [yet? :)], so I hard coded it "/Volumes/Macintosh HD". ----- While I've been learning the InstaDMG and making tweaks, image after image after image, I've disabled some things to speed up image creation: (only during this initial learning time using InstaDMG. I will reenable the items when I need a more serious image.) So I've temporarily disabled features to decrease image-creation time: I've disabled the repairPermissions [code]# /usr/sbin/diskutil repairPermissions "$TARGET_IMAGE_MOUNT"[/code] I've disabled the entire for-done section following this line for quick testing [code] log "Correcting symlinks that point off the disk" information[/code] I've not included the 10.6.2 combo updater, and with the other tweaks I can turn around an image in 10min. Usually I'm fighting a typo in some launchd scripts and I just want to know "does my script work now?" :) ----- I've tested adding multiple accounts. And hiding some accounts. And it works. Except for the first boot. The first boot always shows all of the accounts. After that first boot, the correct accounts are always hidden. I wonder if there is some way to inject some file to force the first boot to hide the appropriate account names. ----- I wish there were option-commands to turn on and off: Symlink fixing Permission fixing I wish there was an option-command to change the path to where I want to keep the cached/intermediate image (That cached image concept is such a cool feature, by the way.) I still haven't figured out how to install metapackages like Developer Tools, when there are a bunch of extra packages that are in another folder. I bet iWork will be tough too. Dunno, yet. That's my braindump from my first experience with InstaDMG. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." It is truly magical to create a consistent image, and have it auto-restore and boot. Thank you so much for this free tool.