OT: relevance of version# of info.plist - add to Jim Sims

Sarah Reichelt sarah.reichelt at gmail.com
Mon Jun 29 04:37:44 EDT 2009


> I have a corresponding issue to Jims version number post
>
> Still not being a Mac guy, I am not familiar with the function of the
> info.plist and Pkginfo file, perhaps someone can enlighten me?
>
> I have released an app with version 1.0 in the standalone settings which is
> taken for the build of the bundle.
>
> I have released updates where I updated only the app file - not the whole
> bundle - and have kept the version # 1.0 and changed only my internal
> version in the about menu, just as Jim, because I was unsure of the function
> of info.plist and Pkginfo. That works so far, beside of the issue, what Jim
> described, if a user reads the info of the bundle.
>
> Now my additional question is, what happens, if I would change the
> standalone version of the app file to 1.1 and copy it into the old bundle
> 1.0? Would this still work or would the OS X crash, or any other problems
> beside that the user still gets a wrong info, if asking the bundle? The
> reason why I would like to change the version number is, that I want to
> create a new bundle with the correct version number, but still want to use
> the new app for updates of the old version.
>
> And what is the correct way of doing such an update? Exchanging the
> info.plist as well / updating it, like Sarah? and what is the function of
> Pkginfo? Do I have to exchange it also with an update with a new version
> number?

Both the PkgInfo and info.plist files show the data that is entered on
the OS X tab of the standalone settings.
The PkgInfo file only shows the file type "APPL" = application and the
4 character signature that you entered in the standalone settings,
which you are supposed to register with Apple.
The info.plist file has a lot more data: version numbers in several
different formats, copyright data, info about icons, document types
etc.

When a user gets version info about your app from inside your app, it
can be whatever you say.
If a user tries to get the version number using Finder's Get Info
command, then they will get the data from the info.plist file.

My utility uses an OS X shell command to edit the info.plist file, so
that is not an option for you if you are building on Windows.

My recommendation would be to supply minor upgrades by replacing the
app inside the bundle, but do major upgrades by building a new bundle
so that the info.plist is updated also. e.g. if Finder reports version
1.0, your app could be 1.0.1, 1.0.8 or whatever. When moving to
version 1.1, build a new standalone.

Re your specific question, I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If you
change the standalone version to 1.1, this will have no effect unless
you build a new standalone. If you change the standalone version and
then just insert the stack into an existing bundle, the previous
info.plist will be in the bundle, so the version number will not be
updated. However this will not cause any problems as far as running
the app goes, unless you have added commands that were not available
in the version of Rev used to build the original app.

Hope this helps,
Sarah



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