Need help packaging Pro Tools 11

What files are you capturing and packaging up? Can you post a screenshot of the files with all folders/files expanded?

Since the PACE drivers mentioned are part of iLok, why not just install that part separately since they provide a regular .pkg installer on their site?

Just include it as a package to install in your install policy.

Expanding every single folder would take forever to screenshot, cut and crop together. At the end of the whole process it is nearly a 5GB package so you can imagine how many files there would be to look at.

Basically it is a start to finish installation of Pro Tools. Anything the Pro Tools installer puts down, plus patches downloaded from AVID, plus mandatory PACE (anti-piracy) drivers installed during Pro Tools first launch, then a template configuration that the Audio Engineer here on my campus creates that I import into Pro Tools and set as default, etc etc.

After I am done configuring, I just hit compose.

As I said before, Pro Tools lays down a lot of files so I am not picking through them deleting any files to make the package lean. There really should be no reason for Composer to not be capturing these settings, unless it is the PACE driver, which is an anti-piracy driver that is required for Pro Tools.

I didn't have any trouble with packaging version 10 of Pro Tools or an earlier version of Pro Tools 11, but getting Pro Tools to the latest version of 11 + PACE driver doesn't seem to be working for me.

@chriscollins Pro Tools, after first launch, creates a "Pro Tools Aggrevate I/O" in the Audio MIDI Setup on MAC OS and as you know, in order to launch Pro Tools the first time you need to have an iLok in place, thus needing the PACE driver already present.

After this step, I need to configure certain settings in the Audio MIDI Setup under the "Pro Tools Aggrevate I/O" to prevent audio jitter issues that Pro Tools 11 has with Yosemite.

A prerequisite of Pro Tools launching the first time in order for me to capture these "Pro Tools Aggrevate I/O" settings is the PACE driver for the iLok. There is no way to install the PACE driver after the fact, being that I need to also capture the above mentioned settings, which only make themselves available after PACE driver installation and a Pro Tools first launch.

Please let me know if the workflow isn't clear.

I get it, but if for some reason Composer isn't getting the iLok drivers, then do the install like you have been doing, and capture those files, but just also lay down the iLok drivers again when you run the policy using the installer from the iLok site. After the policy is done and your Pro Tools package as well as the iLok package have both run, the missing iLok drivers would be there but so would also Pro Tools and all the user specific files you are talking about like the Midi Setup, etc.

This is what we do:
Download these packages and upload it to Casper Admin with those priorities and tick "install on boot drive after imaging".

• Pro Tools 11.x.x installer.pkg (Priority 10)
• iLok_License_Manager_v2.x.x_xxxxxx.pkg (Priority 11)
• Install Avid HD Driver 11.x.x.pkg (Priority 12)
• Install Avid Codecs LE.pkg (Priority 13)

Then run this script (taken from internet) after these packages install.

#!/bin/bash

#
# Pro Tools Post Install Script
# Tested on Pro Tools 11.3.1
#

# Copy the com.avid.bsd.shoe Helper Tool
PHT_SHOE="/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.avid.bsd.shoe"

/bin/cp -f "/Applications/Pro Tools.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.avid.bsd.shoe" $PHT_SHOE
/usr/sbin/chown root:wheel $PHT_SHOE
/bin/chmod 544 $PHT_SHOE

# Create the Launch Deamon Plist for com.avid.bsd.shoe
PLIST="/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avid.bsd.shoe.plist"
FULL_PATH="/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.avid.bsd.shoe"

rm $PLIST # Make sure we are idempotent

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add Label string" $PLIST
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set Label com.avid.bsd.shoe" $PLIST

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add MachServices dict" $PLIST
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add MachServices:com.avid.bsd.shoe bool" $PLIST
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set MachServices:com.avid.bsd.shoe true" $PLIST

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add ProgramArguments array" $PLIST
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add ProgramArguments:0 string" $PLIST
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set ProgramArguments:0 $FULL_PATH" $PLIST

/bin/launchctl load $PLIST

mkdir -p "/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins"
mkdir -p "/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins (Disabled)"

chmod a+w "/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins"
chmod a+w "/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins (Disabled)"

mkdir "/Users/Shared/Pro Tools"
mkdir /Users/Shared/AvidVideoEngine

chown -R root:wheel /Users/Shared/*
chmod -R a+rw /Users/Shared/*

exit 0

We also set Built-in Output as the Playback Engine for all users.
The file is: ~/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools/DSIPrefs

Once you have done the desired Playback Engine settings please drag-and-drop ~/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools/DSIPrefs to Composer and create a DMG and upload it to Casper Admin with FUT and FEU selected with Priority set to 13.

Thanks

we did basically the same as @Kumarasinghe, broke the installation down into 4 or 5 subpackages by snapshotting at each stage and prioritised them to install in the same order they were created.

Thanks guys.

Hello all. This is really helpful information.

I'm hoping I might probe for a bit more:

@Kaminski mentioned "Custom Template as default." I'm curious if you can provide more information regarding how you manage this.

@Kumarasinghe I was hoping you might have more information on what settings the DSIPrefs hold?

Thanks.