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Mac - Don't use an installer
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AeroLeviathan The Galaxy Beta Mac app is currently distributed as an installer package. While this is the norm on Windows, it is not so much on the Mac. Most apps are a single .app bundle that can simply be drag-and-dropped into the Applications folder. This is faster and easier for users, and less prone to security risks, than using an installer (especially one that requires an administrator password).
After building the .app, simply compress it in a zip file for distribution. A somewhat older method is to package it in a .dmg (disk image) file, but this is not quite as easy for users and is becoming less common.
If you are concerned that the user may not know to place the .app bundle in the Applications folder, there are automated solutions for this which are still a better user experience than an installer: www.potionfactory.com/blog/2009/09/17/move-applications-folder
Note however, that in most cases it is unnecessary for the .app to be run from a specific location, and you can safely allow the user to run it from wherever they wish. Keeping them in the Applications folder is a mere convenience for the sake of organisation.
Removing the use of the installer would also solve the problem of requiring an administrator password when one is not necessary. In case an installer is absolutely required for some reason, I have filed a separate wish for the installer to not ask for a password unnecessarily.
AliasWyvernspur Weird thing is, the games themselves are drag and drop applications, yet Galaxy client isn't.
jeskeca MacOS installers are evil, because there is no DE-installation.
Please distribute as a .dmg image of a .app like is recommended by Apple.
I cancelled the install the first time because it is an installer, and I'm really upset this is the only way it's distributed.
michalm.mac I don't have problem with package type installation. However I am very disapointed with a way they are using package format -> www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy/os_x_use_installer_package_pkg_properly
They are not using .pkg preperly because they install everything with postinstall .bash script (thus you can't see file list because package itself does not know about any files).
Eitot I agree, I don’t like package installers. They are not transparent enough in what they are installing (GalaxyClient doesn’t even show a file list prior or after installation, the Terminal command pkgutil is useless for this). Using the installer to install a daemon is also not necessary or good, as it’s not default behaviour on OS X anyway. This can be easily accomplished from within the app too, after installation.
carboxymoron Asking for a password is necessary and the correct behaviour since /Applications requires admin to write. If you were a non-admin user, you would not be able to drag and drop a .app into /Applications either without sudo. Most people never realise this because they are the sole admin user on their machine.
I am in favour of the .pkg installer, but with an improvement to choose the install directory. That way if you choose to install somewhere in your home folder (e.g. ~/Applications), Installer.app would naturally not require your password.
Installers have the benefit of setting up defaults (in Galaxy’s case it appears to setup the daemon for automatically running at login), and logging all their actions. I also like that I can install packages unattended from a terminal.
5 comments about this wish