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 package'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 volume than the one currently run-ning running
ning the booted system. See systemsetup (only available on Mac OS X Server) to set the boot volume.
The installer command requires at least "admin" privileges to run. If a package requires authentica-tion authentication
tion (set in a package's .info file) the installer must be either run as root or with the sudo(8) com-mand. command.
mand.
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 descriptive 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.
-allow Allows overriding (in packages which support it) installing older versions of packages over
newer installed versions.
-dumplog
Detailed log information is always sent to syslog using the LOG_INSTALL facility. -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 conjunc-tion conjunction
tion 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 formatted 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. 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.
-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 information in the key/value dictio-nary. dictionary.
nary. This file can be used instead of the command line parameters, and supersedes any parame-ters parameters
ters on the command line. When you type this parameter, you type the path to the XML file.
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 veri-fied verified
fied to ensure that it is valid.
-listiso
Display the list of valid ISO language codes the installer recognizes.
-showChoicesXML
Dumps XML of install choices to to stdout. This XML can be used to construct an XML input file
for use with -applyChoiceChangesXML and -showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML
-applyChoiceChangesXML <pathToXMLFile>
Applies the install choice changes specified in the XMLFile to the default choices state in the
package before installation. This allows the command-line installer to customize choice selec-tion selection
tion of what gets installed. The XML input file format is described below.
The XML file structure is an array of choiceIdentifier strings. Each item in the array is tog-gled toggled
gled (exactly equivalent to a user clicking on that choice's checkbox in the Installer.app's
user interface). To turn off a mixed-state item, you will need to put the choice identifier in
the array twice, since the first "click" will turn it on.
-showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML <pathToXMLFile>
Applies the install choice changes specified in the XMLFile to the default choices state in the
package, and then dumps XML of choices to stdout. The XML dumped is in the same format as the
XML produced by -showChoicesXML Since changing one choice in a distribution can implicitly
change other choices, this method provides an avenue for a user to verify that, given a partic-ular particular
ular XML changes input file, the items to be installed match that user's expectations.
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
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 October 2, 2006 Mac OS X
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