[pteeter]

Good to know gneagle.

I’ve adjusted my 3.0.3 package to deliver just the app bundle. Still seeing bizarreness with 1 of my build-types.

Root can launch Firefox, any other user – local, local admin, network – gets a crash. Message to syslog is:
[code]Oct 28 12:12:16 MacBookPro15 com.apple.launchd[372] ([0x0-0xad0ad].org.mozilla.firefox[659]): Stray process with PGID equal to this dead job: PID 661 PPID 1 crashreporter
Oct 28 12:12:16 MacBookPro15 com.apple.launchd[372] ([0x0-0xad0ad].org.mozilla.firefox[659]): Exited with exit code: 1[/code]
Have been trying to remove Internet-Plugins, Firefox components, etc. to isolate the problem.

Couple threads over at the Firefox/Mozilla forum but nothing conclusive.

What permissions do you assign to the bundle when you drop it in /Applications (assuming that’s what you do)?

[pteeter]

I’ve found a couple postings about Mac OS X 10.5.5 + Firefox 3.0.3 with the same complaints about not launching properly on the Firefox forum. I’m trying to document the issue a little more completely now.

It may have implications on this forum…it may not.

I’ll update the posting with whatever I find.

[pteeter]

Linked cartoon = f’ing hilarious.

Thanks.

[pteeter]

You plistbuddy stalwarts.

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy it is.

Good call.

[pteeter]

OK, I believe you. Though research turns up some fun firmware hacks to make an optical drive region free. 😈

So the section of /etc/authorization would be (in Leopard):
[code]
system.device.dvd.setregion.initial

class
user
comment
Used by the DVD player to set the region code the first time. Note that changing the region code after it has been set requires a different right (system.device.dvd.setregion.change).
group
admin
shared

[/code]
So to work around this for non-admin users, change the class to ‘allow’ and lose the ‘group’ and ‘shared’ keys?

Anyone got suggestions for editing this – payload free + postflight script? Or maybe best practice is to copy in a pre-built file?

[pteeter]

Good stuff…I posted to that thread way earlier and let it get away from me.

I may play around with the droplet/converter tool.

Perhaps I’m a masochist, but I enjoy the process of rolling my own PKGs b/c then I really know what files compose what app.

[pteeter]

Yes…

strings /User/Shared/.PPXE/rsrc

Yields the un-hashed, un-encrypted serial number.

Way secure of onOne.

[pteeter]

jdyck…

While I don’t have to worry about the language specific versions of Office08 (thankfully), I do deploy Office08.

In discussions with pfergus, a real InstaDMG guru, who uses Filewave ([url]http://www.filewave.com[/url]) to manage software on his client machines, I ended up with this method for deploying Office 08…

1. take before snapshot of system
2. install Office 08
3. install all current updates to Office 08
4. take after snapshot
5. package up necessary components for deployment
6. integrate new PKG into InstaDMG/InstaUp2Date build train

I personally don’t trust the PKG’s that MS releases, but I’m paranoid and enjoy the tedium of rolling my own PKG installers. 😉

I also seem to recall that the PKGs and MPKGs from MS have some preflight scripts that make a CLI/automated install difficult.

Yes, every time MS releases a new update I have to make a new PKG…but I’d have to do that anyway AND that update PKG would typically have to have a preflight script to delete whatever the MS MPKG deletes.

Just one man’s opinion but it might help.

[pteeter]

jdyck:

I can vouch for your ‘nested’ catalog file idea.

I’ve been using it and deploying images based on it for a few months.

Some of my catalog files reference 7-8 other catalog files.

I’m maintaining build trains for Tiger X86, Tiger PPC, and Leopard.

Beneath each of those OS-HW classifications, I build 5-10 different image types. The difference between each being how much or how little software is installed.

[pteeter]

[QUOTE][u]Quote by: gneagle[/u][p]Maybe we should be talking to the people at http://www.appdeploy.com.

They maintain a database of receipes/packages/notes for deploying Windows software. They are supported by the folks at KACE, who offer the KBOX Systems Management Appliance, which among other things, supports software deployment to OS X clients. So there should be an interest there in working silent installs of Mac OS X software as well.
[/p][/QUOTE]

I love that site for GPO/MSI installs.

Do you have a contact?

[pteeter]

[i]1. diff file from logGen or whatever snapshot tool is used
2. commented scripts – preflight, postflight, etc.
3. PackageMaker or Iceberg project
4. README of some sort describing what you’re trying to package, how you did it, and how you tested it

Yeah, that would be probably a good basic model.

Also useful, I think, would be a list of modifications to pre-existing Installer packages (pre/postflights, etc) required to get them to work in InstaDMG. As an example, the changes required to the iTunes packages to prevent launching files from the resulting image.[/i]

I guess I figured the README would cover that. And the presence of a commented pre/post-flight script would indicate what was tweaked.

BTW – I am simply relying on InstaDMG or a home-made ‘framework’ script to kill the iTunesHelper.

[pteeter]

Sadly, it lost steam b/c we all went to work on our imaging building trains.

I do have tons of tested & known-good logGen diff files, scripts (preflight & postflight), PackageMaker projects, and now Iceberg projects.

I’m happy to post them but think we need some type of standard for what files need to be included.

1. diff file from logGen or whatever snapshot tool is used
2. commented scripts – preflight, postflight, etc.
3. PackageMaker or Iceberg project
4. README of some sort describing what you’re trying to package, how you did it, and how you tested it

Something like that maybe?

[pteeter]

Thanks for fseventer tip. Great tool.

So it appears onOne stores serialization info for Genuine Fractals Print Pro in /Users/Shared/.PPXE

The odd part is that the file is 0 size and appears to be empty with more, vi, and strings.

Now, the file name is part of our s/n so…since I have no other s/n with which to test I cannot verify that another s/n might result in a file named something else.

This works for me though.

[pteeter]

I’m liking this topic as it applies to my current machine deployment scenario – mobile accounts with local home dirs.

But doesn’t the whole discussion beg this question…

Why the heck not just use Portable Home Directories?

I’m not using them yet either but…PHD’s almost eliminate the need for the whole discussion depending on how one might deploy filters on the PHD.

Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to testing those backup & restore scripts at some point.

[pteeter]

I’ve played with AppFresh a bit. While I found it’s intent to be admirable – scan Apps and Utils for versions then tell you if you need to update each – it gave me a number of phantom updates on a quite regular basis.

I’m unclear about how AppFresh updates it’s version information.

While it’d be great to completely automate 3rd party application updates, checking VersionTracker daily is the best option in my mind.

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