manpagez: man pages & more
man installer(8)
Home | html | info | man
installer(8)              BSD System Manager's Manual             installer(8)


NAME

     installer -- system software and package installer tool.


SYNOPSIS

     installer [-dominfo] [-volinfo] [-pkginfo] [-showChoicesXML]
               [-showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML <pathToXMLFile>]
               [-applyChoiceChangesXML <pathToXMLFile>] [-query <flag>]
               [-allow] [-dumplog] [-help] [-verbose | -verboseR] [-vers]
               [-config] [-plist] [-file <pathToFile>]
               [-lang <ISOLanguageCode>] [-listiso] -package <pathToPackage>
               -target device


DESCRIPTION

     The installer command is used to install Mac OS X installer packages to a
     specified domain or volume.  The installer command installs a single
     package per invocation, which is specified with the -package parameter (
     -pkg is accepted as a synonym).  It may be either a single package or a
     metapackage.  In the case of the metapackage, the packages which are part
     of the default install will be installed unless disqualified by a pack-
     age's check tool(s).

     The target volume is specified with the -target parameter ( -tgt is
     accepted as a synonym).  It must already be mounted when the installer
     command is invoked.

     For system software installs, the target volume must be a different vol-
     ume than the one currently running the booted system.  See systemsetup
     (only available on Mac OS X Server) to set the boot volume.

     The installer command requires root privileges to run.  If a package
     requires authentication (set in a package's .info file) the installer
     must be either run as root or with the sudo(8) command (but see further
     discussion under the -store option).

     The installer is not responsible for rebooting the machine after
     installing.  Use reboot(8) or shutdown(8) -r now to reboot the system.

     The installer displays two forms of output.  The default terse output is
     intended for parsing by scripting languages for automating (or scripting)
     installs and verbose output providing additional information and descrip-
     tive error messages.

     A list of flags and their descriptions:

     -dominfo
             Displays a list of domains into which the software package can be
             installed.  For example: LocalSystem or CurrentUserHomeDirectory.
             The domains listed are those which are available and enabled when
             the command is run.

     -volinfo
             Displays a list of volumes onto which the software package can be
             installed.  The volumes listed are the mounted volumes available
             when the command is run.

     -pkginfo
             Displays a list of packages that can be installed onto the target
             volume.  If a metapackage is given as the package source, all of
             its subpackages are listed.

     -query flag
             Queries a package for information about the metadata.  See -help
             for supported flags.

     -allowUntrusted
             Allow install of a package signed by an untrusted (or expired)
             certificate.

     -dumplog
             Detailed log information is always sent to syslog using the
             LOG_INSTALL facility (and will wind up in /var/log/install.log).
             -dumplog additionally writes this log to standard error output.

     -help   Displays the help screen describing the list of parameters.

     -verbose
             Displays more descriptive information than the default output.
             Use this parameter in conjunction with -pkginfo and -volinfo
             information requests to see more readable output.  The default
             output is formatted for scripting.

     -verboseR
             Displays same information as -verbose except the output is for-
             matted for easy parsing.

     -vers   Displays the version of this command.

     -config
             Formats the command line installation arguments for later use.
             The output is sent to stdout, but can be redirected to a file to
             create a configuration file.  When specifying this option, an
             installation is not actually performed.  This configuration file
             can be supplied as the argument to the -file parameter instead of
             typing a long series of installation arguments.  The config file
             can be used to perform multiple identical installs.  You can cre-
             ate a config file as follows:

             installer -pkg ~/Documents/Foo.pkg -target / -config > /tmp/con-
             figfile.plist

     -plist  Formats the installer output into an XML file, which is sent by
             default to stdout.  Use this parameter for -dominfo, -volinfo,
             and -pkginfo

     -file pathToFile
             Specifies the path to the XML file containing parameter informa-
             tion in the key/value dictionary.  This file can be used instead
             of the command line parameters, and supersedes any parameters on
             the command line.  When you type this parameter, you type the
             path to the XML file.  Use with config file generated by -config
             For example:

             installer -file /tmp/configfile.plist

     -lang ISOLanguageCode
             Default language of installed system (ISO format).  This is only
             necessary when performing a system (OS) install, otherwise is it
             ignored.  There is no verification done to make sure that the
             language being set actually exists on the machine, however the
             ISO language code is verified to ensure that it is valid.

     -listiso
             Display the list of valid ISO language codes the installer recog-
             nizes.

     -showChoiceChangesXML
             Prints to stdout the install choices for the package (specified
             with -pkg) in an XML format. This allows choice attributes to be
             modified and applied at install-time using
             -applyChoiceChangesXML.  See CHOICE CHANGES FILE for details of
             this XML format.

     -applyChoiceChangesXML pathToXMLFile
             Applies the install choice changes specified in pathToXMLFile to
             the default choices in the package before installation. This
             allows the command-line installer to customize choice what gets
             installed. See CHOICE CHANGES FILE for details of this XML for-
             mat. Any problems encountered while applying the choice changes
             will be reported to the LOG_INSTALL facility (i.e. to
             /var/log/install.log), and also to stdout if -dumplog is used.

     -showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML pathToXMLFile
             Applies the install choice changes specified in pathToXMLFile to
             the default choices in the package, and then dumps the resulting
             choice state to stdout.  The input and output XML format is as
             described in CHOICE CHANGES FILE.  Since changing one choice in a
             package can implicitly change other choices, this option allows
             you to confirm that a particular choiceChanges file will have the
             intended effect. You must specify a -target when using this
             option, since the evaluated choices can also change with the
             state of the target disk.

     -showChoicesXML
             Prints to stdout the install choices for the package (specified
             with -pkg) in a hierarchical XML format. This is not the same
             format as used with -applyChoiceChangesXML.  This option is pro-
             vided for System Image Utility only.

     -store  Install the product archive specified by -package, in the same
             way that it would be installed through the Mac App Store. In this
             mode, no other options are supported. (You can specify -target,
             but the only allowable value is the root volume mount point, /).
             For best Mac App Store fidelity, run installer as an admin user
             (not using sudo); you will prompted for your admin user's pass-
             word before the install begins.

             This mode is provided for testing a product archive before sub-
             mission to the Mac App Store. See productbuild(1) for how to cre-
             ate a product archive.


DEVICES

     A device parameter for the target is any one of the following:

     1) Any of the values returned by -dominfo
     2) The device node entry.  Any entry of the form of /dev/disk*.  ex:
     /dev/disk2
     3) The disk identifier.  Any entry of the form of disk*.  ex: disk1s9
     4) The volume mount point.  Any entry of the form of /Volumes/Mountpoint.
     ex: /Volumes/Untitled
     5) The volume UUID.  ex: 376C4046-083E-334F-AF08-62FAFBC4E352


CHOICE CHANGES FILE

     A ``choiceChanges'' file allows individual installer choices to be
     selected or deselected. A template choiceChanges file for a given package
     can be generated with the -showChoiceChangesXML option, and is inter-
     preted as follows.

     The choiceChanges file is a property list containing an array of dictio-
     naries. Each dictionary has the following three keys:

     Key                 Description
     choiceIdentifier    Identifier for the choice to be modified (string)
     choiceAttribute     One of the attribute names described below (string)
     attributeSetting    A setting that depends on the choiceAttribute,
                                                                                          described
                                                                                          below
                                                                                          (number
                                                                                          or
                                                                                          string)

     The choiceAttribute and attributeSetting values are as follows:

     choiceAttribute     attributeSetting Description
     selected            (number) 1 to select the choice, 0 to deselect it
     enabled             (number) 1 to enable the choice, 0 to disable it
     visible             (number) 1 to show the choice, 0 to hide it
     customLocation      (string) path at which to install the choice (see
                                                                                          below)

     Note that there can be multiple dictionaries for the same
     choiceIdentifier, since there can be multiple attributes set for a single
     choice.

     The customLocation attribute can be set for a choice only if that choice
     explicitly allows a user-defined path. That is, if the choice would have
     a Location popup when viewed in the Customize pane of the Installer
     application, it can be set via customLocation.  (Otherwise, installation
     paths cannot be arbitrarily modified, since the package author must
     account for custom install locations for the installation to work prop-
     erly.)


EXAMPLES

     installer -dominfo -pkg InstallMe.pkg

     installer -volinfo -pkg InstallMe.pkg

     installer -pkginfo -pkg DeveloperTools.mpkg

     installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -target LocalSystem

     installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -target / -lang en

     installer -pkg DeveloperTools.mpkg -target /

     installer -pkg InstallMe.pkg -target "/Volumes/Macintosh HD2"

     installer -pkg InstallMe.pkg -file /tmp/InstallConfigFile

     installer -pkg InstallMe.pkg -target /dev/disk0s5


ENVIRONMENT

     COMMAND_LINE_INSTALL  Set when performing an installation using the
                           installer command.


FILES

     /usr/sbin/installer  Software package installer tool


SEE ALSO

     syslog.conf(5) reboot(8) shutdown(8) softwareupdate(8) sudo(8)
     systemsetup(8)


HISTORY

     The command line installer tool first appeared in the 10.2 release of Mac
     OS X.

Mac OS X                        April 19, 2007                        Mac OS X

Mac OS X 10.9 - Generated Thu Oct 17 07:50:41 CDT 2013
© manpagez.com 2000-2024
Individual documents may contain additional copyright information.