Is PackageMaker considered the standard for Mac OS X software installation? Or is there something else out there?

Question

I've put together my very first package with PackageMaker (for a system service), but I am not happy about several faults:

• Frequent crashes while applying target permissions to my source files
• Package source files are not automatically or easily refreshed
• File filter does not work

Is there something else out there more capable of this task? Free is not a requirement.

Answer 1

Yes it is, and yes it's buggy. Apple uses the command line version pretty much exclusively so the GUI tends to have the feeling that it's been slapped together by a summer intern and never tested.

Answer 2

PackageMaker is the standard, for things that need an installer (many regular applications just use a DMG, often with a background image telling the user to copy the bundle to /Applications - eg Firefox does this)

MindVision VISE is a commercial solution you can look at, used by some people, but personally I think the look & feel of the resulting installers is subtly wrong (and slightly retro) - that's a subjective viewpoint of course.

Package Maker works pretty well for many people - though documentation is rather scant; are you sure the problems you're experiencing aren't fixable?

Answer 3

There (now) is a great free alternative to PackageMaker with the simple name "Packages": http://s.sudre.free.fr/Software/Packages/about.html

It's really easy to use, very stable and mature and even open source (in case you need to hack anything). Plus: it has a well written documentation!

Answer 4

I had the same problem until I added #!/bin/sh at the top of the script. Apparently PackageMaker needs it; I wish the log was a bit more clear about it.

IHIH, Oren

Answer 5

Since Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard it is recommended to use pkgbuild and productbuild instead of PackageMaker.