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Deploying Office 2008 12.3.0 updater via http = permissions issues

  • June 30, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 22 views
RobertHammen
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Has anyone taken the .mpkg for the Office 2008 12.3.0 update and deployed it via Casper?

I never had any luck with deployment via http until we got Casper 8.1 (and the more-reliable http transfers). Was able to deploy the 12.2.9 update just fine (well, don't forget to sudo chown -R username:group the updater .mpkg, and also chmod -R 775 the mpkg, as there are known permissions issues with the updaters themselves).

Did the same thing, test-deployed the 12.3.0 updater (to machines either logged out or logged in w/no MS/Safari apps running). The Casper logs show that the policy ran successfully; the apps show up as version 12.3.0; however, trying to open them, just get one bounce and nothing.

Console log gives an error about being unable to spawn a process. Doing a chmod -R 775 on the Microsoft Office 2008 folder, everything subsequently works. But somehow the permissions are getting whacked when this .mpkg is being deployed/installed via Casper. Fortunately I can script the chmod command after the .mpkg is installed.

Question is, if this is a glitch with MS' installers (wouldn't be the first time), or an error in Casper. I'd be curious to see if anyone else could reproduce this behavior. Can't wait until we get more 2011 licenses (I was able to deploy the 14.1.2 update to our few users with no issues)...

Thanks,

--Robert

    3 replies

    talkingmoose
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    • talkingmoose
    • Community Manager
    • June 30, 2011

    Haven't seen this issue myself but we're already at Office 2011.
    On 6/29/11 10:21 PM, "Robert Hammen" <rhlist1 at hammen.org> wrote:

    If you get Casper out of the way and apply this package manually by
    double-clicking then what happens? What happens if you apply the package
    via command line?

    sudo installer -pkg "/path/to/Office Installer.mpkg" -target /

    What are the incorrect permissions getting applied and to what files in
    the application packages?

    My memory is hazy but I recall a conversation (via Twitter?) where someone
    found that an Office update was releasing with three files with
    permissions of 700. This combined with a bug in Casper produced incorrect
    results. Verify that your original update installers are 755 all the way
    through.

    --

    William Smith
    Technical Analyst
    Merrill Communications LLC
    (651) 632-1492

    golbiga
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    • golbiga
    • Employee
    • June 30, 2011

    I was the one on twitter. Info.plist in three packages in Office 2011 were causing the issues. Though the new Office 2011 w/ SP1 installer works with no issues and I didn't have to make any changes. It seems the offending files are typically Office_en_quit.pkg, Office_en_dock.pkg.

    Along with Williams suggestion you should also try:

    jamf install -package <file name> -path <path to file> -target <volume> <- This will probably install fine w/o the changes, it did for me

    and then

    sudo jamf policy -id <policyID> <- This will fail unless you make the permission changes,

    I honestly don't know if this is a JAMF issue or a Microsoft one.

    Allen

    RobertHammen
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    • RobertHammen
    • Author
    • Esteemed Contributor
    • June 30, 2011
    On Jun 30, 2011, at 9:01 AM, Smith, William wrote: On 6/29/11 10:21 PM, "Robert Hammen" <rhlist1 at hammen.org> wrote: Console log gives an error about being unable to spawn a process. Doing a chmod -R 775 on the Microsoft Office 2008 folder, everything subsequently works. But somehow the permissions are getting whacked when this .mpkg is being deployed/installed via Casper. Fortunately I can script the chmod command after the .mpkg is installed. Haven't seen this issue myself but we're already at Office 2011.

    Would love to be there (I've been using 2011 full-time for a year now), just awaiting OK to purchase more licenses.

    If you get Casper out of the way and apply this package manually by double-clicking then what happens? What happens if you apply the package via command line? sudo installer -pkg "/path/to/Office Installer.mpkg" -target /

    I still have a snapshot install of 12.2.9 available through Self Service. Guess I could try on a test machine.

    What are the incorrect permissions getting applied and to what files in the application packages?

    It was the actual binary inside Microsoft Excel.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Excel, IIRC.

    My memory is hazy but I recall a conversation (via Twitter?) where someone found that an Office update was releasing with three files with permissions of 700. This combined with a bug in Casper produced incorrect results. Verify that your original update installers are 755 all the way through.

    Yep, I *always* chmod -R any MS updaters before dragging them into Casper Admin. In this case it didn't fix the problem.

    I think I'm going to bounce this one off support.

    --Robert

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