How can I bundle different installers from third party vendors to ease end-user installation process

Question

I have to deploy a few packages to all our users working from home (private iMacs/Laptops)

Is there a way to bundle multiple installers and Java JRE for them? What about authorizations and custom options for example?

Answer 1

pkgbuild and productbuild

Apple provide two command line tools for creating installer packages on macOS:

• pkgbuild
• productbuild

These tools handle authorization. Options are handled by the distribution file passed to productbuild.

autopkg

autopkg is an open source tool popular with Mac administrators:

AutoPkg is a system for automatically preparing software for distribution to managed clients. Recipes allow you to specify a series of simple actions which combined together can perform complex tasks, similar to Automator workflows or Unix pipes.

Answer 2

Sure, you can create custom macOS installer packages and combine software. If you have installers that already work, making a shell script to call them in sequence might be less effort.

Sometimes it’s easier to just make a web page to walk them through the steps. It depends how much time you have to make and test your packages and scripts vs how many people will need this.

Welcome to becoming a Mac admin. Here is the best author that writes about how to learn to package for macOS.

• https://scriptingosx.com/packaging-for-apple-administrators/