has anybody made inkscape install from self-service?

Its just an app bundle delivered in a DMG. So basically, there is nothing special about it I can see.

General practice here would be to repackage it up by first dragging the app from the mounted disk image into /Applications/ to copy it there, then launching the software (from /Applications/, not the DMG) at least once to clear any quarantine flag, make sure it launches, etc. Then open Composer and drag it from Applications into the side panel to create a new Source. Confirm settings, then build as either a pkg or dmg file.
Use that in the Self Service policy once you've added it to your Casper repository.

Does that answer your question?

EDIT: Ok I see looking now that it requires X11 to run, which may be what you were asking about. That would take a little more work since XQuartz is not installed by default in OS X anymore. Hasn't been now for years. In fact, the only version I know of now is open source. Can't even get it from Apple now.

EDIT 2: I would follow the instructions and link on the InkScape landing page to get the XQuartz DMG downloaded. It contains a standard package installer for XQuartz. I have not tried installing that from a Casper policy of any sort, so I don't specifically know how well that works, but just give it a try on a test machine. It should work OK. If it does, include that as part of the SS policy for InkScape. Make it install prior to installing InkScape.

the XQuartz requires a restart. after that you can install inkscape.

the prerequisite package requiring a restart is what makes it tricky. I would prefer if I did not have to do 2 separate policies .

i know you mean "then inkscape"

I this does seem like the best option.

Oops, yes, I meant deploy InkScape, then install XQuartz. Corrected my post above.