Installerless installation on OSX?

Sarah Reichelt sarah.reichelt at gmail.com
Sun Apr 16 02:07:31 EDT 2006


On 4/14/06, Peter T. Evensen <pevensen at siboneylg.com> wrote:
> A large number of .dmg files that I have downloaded lately have two icons:
> the app and a folder shortcut to the user's Applications folder, which a
> background graphic (don't ask me how they do that.. I haven't looked into
> it) directing them to drag the application to the Applications folder
> shortcut, which makes it really easy to install, rather than opening
> another window and navigating.


To do this, use Terminal to make a symbolic link to the Applications
folder with this command:
ln -s /Applications ~/Desktop

For more info, read this article:
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/09/02/easy-access-to-application-folder-from-a-disk.html>

I recommend DropDMG which allows you to add license agreements to your
dmg and set a background picture. For ease of use, I create a
Read-Write disk image set up the way I want with an agreement, a link
to the Applications folder and a background picture as well as my app.
Before distribution, I get DropDMG to convert this to Read-Only
format. Next time I upgrade the app, I open the RW disk image, replace
the app and convert to RO again.

Here is my general rule about installing: If your app is a single file
(or bundle), then use a disk image. If it requires multiple files or
needs files to be put in specific places, use an installer.

HTH,
Sarah



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