InstallEase for Mac OS

Ivanti InstallEase takes snapshots of your hard disk (or specified parts thereof) before and after an installation. By comparing the two snapshots, it determines the files that have been added, modified, and deleted by the installation and saves them as an Apple Installer package or a range of other formats.

You can manually edit the list of changes before saving the installer package, adding files to it or deleting unwanted files from the installer. You can even create your own installer packages from scratch in this manner, foregoing the snapshot-creating steps.

The InstallEase files are on the core server. Copy them to your package-building computer.

  • C:\Program Files\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\utilities\MacInstallEase

Preferences

The preferences let you set some basic options for the application’s operation. The factory defaults are appropriate to most circumstances, so there will often be no need to set the preferences before using Ivanti InstallEase.

Iceberg options

Check the Collect source files in one folder option to have InstallEase create a folder with copies of all source files when saving Iceberg projects. If the option is unchecked, you are responsible for collecting the required source files yourself.

Temporary folder

InstallEase stores temporary data for creating and comparing snapshots. This option lets you specify a convenient location for that folder.

Do not include these files in snapshots

A large number of files on a computer hard disk are changed all the time by the operating system or by automated background processes unrelated to the installed software and should not be included in any snapshots.

You can specify in this list the files – e.g., log files, temporary files, or indexing files – that are to be excluded from snapshots. This is just the default list; you can customize it for individual snapshots, as described below. The Description search field allows you filter the display of the list.

To add a new file, click the + button. You can specify files and folders by their names or their paths; regular expressions are supported.

To remove an existing file, click the – button. You can also temporarilyndeactivate a filter by unchecking it.

Clicking the Default Filters button resets the list to the factory defaults.

Automatic operation

NOTE This procedure describes using Ivanti InstallEase to create an installer package from two snapshots taken before and after an installation. For information on creating an installer package from scratch, see “Manually creating a package”.

Before you begin the process of creating an installer using snapshots, you may want to disable any software on the computer that autonomously writes to the disk, such as mail clients set to download mails in regular intervals or applications with auto-save functions.

To use Ivanti InstallEase to create an installer package
  1. 1. Start Ivanti InstallEase.
  2. In the About Ivanti InstallEase screen, click Start.
  3. Choose the Automatically method and click Continue.
  4. Specify the volume of which InstallEase is to take the snapshots, or use the Other list to specify a range of folders of which to take a snapshot.

    Certain types of files are automatically excluded from any snapshots, mostly known temporary, system maintenance, or log files. To review and edit this list, click Adjust File Filter.

    You can exclude files by their names or paths; regular expressions are supported. The default file filters are set in the Preferences dialog

  5. Click Take Snapshot.

    Ivanti InstallEase records the current state of the specified volume or folders. You have to enter an administrator password.

  6. 6. As soon as possible – i.e., without first performing any other tasks on your computer – install the software from which you want to create an installer package.

    Take the installation as far as needed for your purpose. For example, if you want the installer package to include custom preferences for the software, launch the software and set its preferences as desired.

    Note: If a restart is required as part of the software’s installation process, simply reopen Ivanti InstallEase when you have completed the installation. It will automatically resume from where it left off.

  7. 7. Click Take Snapshot to take the second snapshot.

    If at all possible, do not perform any tasks on the computer until the second snapshot is complete.

    When the second snapshot is complete, InstallEase compares both and creates a list of changes, displaying a progress dialog as it does so.

    When the list is complete, Ivanti InstallEase displays it in the Snapshot Data: Files screen. Objects that are to be removed during the installation are indicated by a superimposed red sign.

  8. Review the list and make changes as needed using the action menu. (When the action menu is used, items are added to the currently selected folder.) You can:

    Specify additional items to be installed. Choose Add Item to add an item from your hard disk or Add Empty Folder to create a new empty folder.

    You can also drag items from the Finder into the list. Dragging them to an empty area of the list adds them using their current paths on disk; dragging them onto an existing folder adds them to that folder. Rearrange items by dragging them around in the list; delete them by selecting them and pressing the Backspace key.

    Specify items to be installed into the home folders of all users on a target computer. To do so, choose Add “All Users Home” Folder from the context menu. Add the folders and items that you want to install into all home folders to this folder.

    When the installer you create with InstallEase is executed, the entire content of the All Users Home folder is installed into the home folder on the target computer.

    Specify items that are to be removed from the target computers during installation:

    • Specify Item to be Removed lets you choose a file or folder from your computer that is removed from target computers when found in the same location.
    • Specify File to be Removed (by Name) lets you specify a file by name that is to be removed from target computers when found at the current location.
    • Specify Folder to be Removed (by Name) lets you specify a folder by name that is to be removed from target computers when found at the current location.

    If folders are to be deleted even when not empty, select them and check the appropriate option at the bottom of the screen. This applies only to uninstallers.

    You can also set the access privileges of a selected item in the list, as well as its owner and group.

  9. Specify the formats that you would like to create and click Save.
  10. Ivanti InstallEase creates the specified packages on your desktop.

Manually creating a package

Manually creating a package works mostly the same as using snapshots (described above), with the following differences:

  • Instead of choosing Automatically in step 3, choose Manually.
  • This takes you directly to step 8 when you click Continue, where you can manually specify all objects to be installed or removed.

In all other respects, the process is the same in both cases.

Creating an uninstaller from an existing package

Ivanti InstallEase can take an installer package (Apple Installer .pkg file) and automatically create an uninstaller package from it.

To create an uninstaller package from an existing package
  1. Start Ivanti InstallEase.
  2. In the About Ivanti InstallEase screen, click Start.
  3. Choose the Uninstaller package method and click Select Package.
  4. Choose an Apple Installer package (.pkg) and click Continue.
  5. Customize and save the uninstaller package as described in Automatic operation, above, from step 8.