[ewhite]

@thegooch: Are you running the InstaDMG script from inside the Instadmg directory?

[ewhite]

I’m having permissions problems (I think) trying to package CS3 Design Premium.

So far, I’ve tried using InstallEase and logGen/pkgGen/PackageMaker (based on this article http://blog.irisink.com/?p=106), both on Leopard.

With the logGen/pkgGen/PackageMaker route, I get an error at the end of building “Could not write the permission directory hierarchy” (and about 1900 warnings) but I’m not experienced enough with PackageMaker to interpret this. (Also, when I tried “Apply Recommendations”, the warnings go away, but not the error.)

InstallEase (using the automatic/snapshot based method of package building) gets a POSIX error about 15 minutes into building the package.

Any advice or ideas? Thanks!

[ewhite]

@gneagle
Thanks for the links to MCX tutorials for local directory services, I didn’t realize that I could use this without running an OS X Server.

@knowmad
Thank you for the tips as well. My current workflow involves customizing a user then copying English.lproj, and it’s working pretty well, but I want to get this all as stream-lined as possible. The way we’re doing it now (which was all setup before I started this job), you have to setup a model computer/account from scratch to rebuild the image — every time! So, with a deadline on this image approaching quickly, I will probably end up combining InstaDMG with this “old” way of imaging using a customized English.lproj.

If you think of links/resources other than the ones mentioned by gneagle, let me know!

[ewhite]

@Patrick
I’m not using OS X Server or any other client management once the machines are deployed. And since it’s an academic setting, that’s been working alright (once a computer is on a faculty member’s desk, they think they “own” it and can do pretty much whatever they want — so new settings only need to be implemented on machines that are getting imaged, whether they are faculty or lab computers). We do use ARD for lab computers, but leave desk machines alone except for troubleshooting.

Thank you for the post-flight package tip, that makes a lot more sense than what I had in mind.

Now all I’ve got to do is convince my manager that I really *do* need that dedicated package-building machine…

Esther

[ewhite]

[QUOTE][u]Quote by: akinspe[/u][p]The short answer is YES. There’s no reason that it shouldn’t be able to run twice since all it’s doing is running a bunch of dscl commands. The issues stated above are mostly likely. That either the UID isn’t different, or the GUID isn’t different. presuming you left the UID blank then it should use 501 and 502. I will see if that is indeed the case or if there’s a bug there. I didn’t test that part as throughly, but if coded properly I would expect it to work. Stay tuned…[/p][/QUOTE]

I tried again, this time commenting out the gid line in USERDATA, and it worked!

[ewhite]

To be more specific… yes I edited the USERDATA file (Instadmg/CustomPKG/#/createUser.pkg/Contents/Resources/USERDATA)

The only difference between the two files I’ve used is the shortname and longname… otherwise they both look like this:

[code]#replace these values with your own. Comment out to use defaults
shortname=osxadmin
longname=”osxadmin”

#leave blank for next available uid
#uid=501

#leave blank for 20
gid=20

#leave blank for /bin/bash
#shell=”/bin/bash”

#leave blank for /Library/User Pictures/Nature/Zen.tif
#pic=”/Library/User Pictures/Nature/Zen.tif”

#uncomment to set password (not recommended since password is clear text)
#if blank, it will use password hash file “password_hash”
#password=”mypassword”

#guid, leave blank for auto gen
#GUID=D4F8BFC9-8EC8-4645-A739-516F59571A2E

#admin
#1 – add to admin group
#0 – don’t add to admin group
admin=1[/code]

[ewhite]

akinspe: First, thank you for this great tool, it worked for me right away and has saved a lot of time! Second, I have a question — do you think createUser.pkg should be able to create more than one user using InstaDMG by running the package twice?

I have tried using the following technique:
I copied a successful version of createUser.pkg that includes my own password_hash and username and moved the copy to a different folder inside of CustomPKG. I then edited the second createUser.pkg to have a different username and a new password_hash.
When InstaDMG runs, it installs both packages without any errors, but when I use NetRestore to image a MacBookPro, it’s only got the first user.

If you think createUser.pkg can be used this way, do you have any ideas about what I’m missing?

[ewhite]

After installing iLife 08 & appropriate updates, I get an empty /Applications/iMovie (previous version)/ … anybody else seeing this?

[ewhite]

I was able to get this to work only when I got rid of the if statement. Who knows…

[code]# Install the Developer Tools
# If disk 2 is mounted, it will install off of that.
# If it’s running off of the Retail DVD, it will nstall from there.
install_DevTools() {
/bin/echo $CREATE_DATE >> $LOG_FILE
/bin/echo $CREATE_DATE >> $PKG_LOG
/bin/echo “Beginning Installation of Developer Tools” >> $LOG_FILE
/bin/echo “Beginning Installation of Developer Tools” >> $PKG_LOG
/usr/sbin/installer -verbose -pkg “$CURRENT_OS_INSTALL_MOUNT/Optional Installs/Xcode Tools/XcodeTools.mpkg” -target $CURRENT_IMAGE_MOUNT -lang en >> $LOG_FILE
}
[/code]

[ewhite]

gooch: Thanks for the tip, I’m trying this right now!

[ewhite]

I’ve used this technique for creating a “Universal” boot drive: [url]http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306520[/url]
Which is also the drive I’m using to build InstaDMG ASR images on.

If you troubleshoot across platforms, this can be incredibly useful. The only thing I’ve had problems with is that (if I remember correctly), once you’ve got your drive with an APM, you cannot install OS X on the drive [i]from[/i] and Intel machine. So you can boot an Intel or PPC Mac, but only install from PPC.

P.S. I still can’t get that Security Update to apply without breaking the image! (Even after removing all non-Apple packages… very weird. But I’m going to just wait for 10.5.3 and move on to other parts of this project.)

[ewhite]

Dano — Thanks for the ideas.

I wasn’t totally clear on how I’m doing this — I was building on an external drive connected to a MacBook Pro and testing on the PowerBook G4 — now I’m building on a drive connected to a MBP and testing on the same MBP.

Currently building an InstaDMG with all updates and no createUser.pkg or clearReg.pkg…

[ewhite]

After successfully creating an ASR image using an original Mac OS X Install DVD (Leopard), and InstallerChoices.xml file, the createuser.pkg and clearReg.pkg — I wanted to start applying Apple Updates.

So I
# Imaged my test machine (a PowerBook G4) with the working ASR (just 10.5.0, with no updates) and
# Ran Software Update on fresh image until there were none left
# Looked at the Software Update log and made notes on update order
# Downloaded updates from Apple
# (Performed tweaks on iLife and iTunes packages as specified by dano above)
# Put them into folders in Instadmg/AppleUpdates/ according to order noted below:

08-04-30
14:01:30
Beginning Installation from /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD
08-04-30
14:14:33
Beginning Update Installs from ./AppleUpdates
Installed ./AppleUpdates/01/AirPortUtility_Leopard.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/02/RemoteDesktopClient.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/03/iLifeSupport.mpkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/04/QuickTime745_Leopard.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/05/iTunes.mpkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/06/MacOSXUpdCombo10.5.2.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/07/FrontRowUpdate2.1.3.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/08/Time-Machine-Update.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/09/LeopardGraphicsUpdate1.0.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/10/SecUpd2008-002Univ.pkg
Installed ./AppleUpdates/11/Safari311UpdLeo.pkg
08-04-30
14:21:06
Beginning Update Installs from ./CustomPKG
Installed ./CustomPKG/1/createUser.pkg
Installed ./CustomPKG/2/clearReg.pkg

I’m finding that the update order isn’t that sensitive, but that the Security Update 2008-002 seems to break my image every time (machine doesn’t boot after being imaged — stops at spinning gear & silver apple). When I used the exact same setup as above, but with folder 10 empty (so no SecUpd2008-002Univ.pkg), it boots fine and asks for the Security Update.

So, is anyone else having this problem or see where the problem might be?

[ewhite]

dano: Thanks for both the updates order & package hacks…

One question: When I image a machine with just 10.5 or 10.5.2 I haven’t been getting the GarageBand, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, etc updates pushed down to the computer (a PowerBook G4). Do you think it’s my hardware or did you choose to add those updates for another reason?

Edit: I just had a “duh” moment … I’m using Mac OS X Install DVD, so those parts of iLife aren’t included…

[ewhite]

[QUOTE][u]Quote by: knowmad[/u][p]
really, your much better off using the other user creation script found in this thread:
[url]https://www.afp548.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=20206[/url]
[/p][/QUOTE]

I’ll try that, thank you!

[Author]

Posts