Final Cut Studio Success Anyone?

[tristan_mason]

Hi All

Has anyone used Composer to create a usable PKG for FInal Cut Studio and instaDMG? I can create a pkg no problem but if I delete anything from the users folder it won’t work once processed. It looks as though I might have to package up every little last prefs and associated files and put them in the User Template which could be rather tedious. Anyone got another way out? I’ve tried a myriad of options no Users, No Users and usr, just no usr etc but nothing works…

I’ve read the long winded post from osxdeployment.info about the non Composer/text wrangling way but it doesn’t excite me much…

Cheers

Tristan

[bw38]

1. Mount all the disk images for Final Cut Studio. (It’s recommended you make disk images of FCS3, trying to install from disks will be very time consuming.)
2. Open Composer, Create a new and modified snapshot. Run the first snapshot.
3. After the first snapshot has been run, install Final Cut Studio 3 and under the custom options, select everything that is available. Install Final Cut Studio and any updates that are available via Software Update.
4. After the install is complete and updated, run the second snapshot on Composer.

5. Take a look at the files found in the User profile folder. Delete the unnecessary files that don’t have to do with FCS3.
6. Move the files in User profile to the User Templates folder (System/Library/User Templates/…).
7. Build your package.

I did it this way and it works. But this is to only be used if you can keep track of the licenses you have available.

The other thing you will most likely want to do is get rid of the registration screen that pops up when you start Final Cut Pro. I made this into a separate package and added it to the User Templates folder as well. Here is the guide to get rid of that screen: http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/how_to_banish_the_final_cut_pro_registration_screen_forever.html

Hope this helps.

[tristan_mason]

Thanks for the outline. I’ve been using the diffs file. Any reason not to use the diffs file? I’ll give it a run through today and report back.

Cheers

Tristan

[bw38]

I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know about the diff files until it was mentioned a week or so ago for the issue I was having with Adobe.

Perhaps the diff files do work, I would assume so anyways since it’s available. But I never used them since the Before/After modified snapshot worked for me. It’s been a month since I did it though, but it definitely works. If it doesn’t let me know and I can test it out when I return to work in the new year.

[tristan_mason]

Had a light bulb moment this morning. When you say “move” to the user template folder do you mean drag and drop or use the command in the terminal? Also are you putting it in the user template folder of the master OS image file that instaDMG creates in the base image folder? I’ve been trying to install these post with a pkg and it removes everything else from the folder as os x doesn’t merge the two but overwrites.

Cheers

Tris

[bw38]

In Composer, what I generally do is I add the path /System/Library/User Template/….
I then delete the additional files and folders located under System, Library and User Template that I don’t need.
I’m then left with just the basic folders I need. I then drag and the files from the user profile that Composer found during the snapshot into the User Templates folder.
I realize this overwrites other folders and deletes everything else because folders don’t merge in OS X. But so far I haven’t had any issues.

Here’s an odd one though. Even though the original folders in the User Template will get deleted if you use my method, any packages that add files to User Templates thereafter will not get overwritten during the InstaDMG process.

Lets say the original OS has Folder A which contains Files 1, File 2, and File 3. I then decide I want to create a package which would add File 4 and File 5. However when I create the package, since I generally delete everything else in Folder A, I will find that File 1, File 2, and File 3 will be lost and only File 4 and File 5 will appear. To circumvent this, I can just create a package from the getgo that contains Folder A with the original File 1, File 2, and File 3. At this point any package I create afterward that adds files to Folder A will automatically contain the original files.

There’s a long thread about merging in OS X here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=274241

You would think merging would be a simple enough feature to have in the GUI.

I’m not sure Terminal would make a difference in what files I drag and drop.

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