Change package install order...

[#1]

I am having a hard time figuring out how to change the install order of some packages in a policy. Essentially I am installing Office 2011. It has the main install package and 3 updates. My problem is that the packages seem to want to list themselves in an order that would seem wrong. Updates are listed and i would assume will install before the main package. I tried prepending them with numbers, adding them one at a time and even changing the install priority. None change the way that the packages are installing.

Thoughts?


[Matt]

Why not just put the packages together and write a script that determines the order (preflight). Or just do what I do with anything Office. Capture! Works like a charm every time.

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[stevewood]

Install order should be determined by the priority set in Casper Admin. So
On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 10:19 AM, Aaron <a.robinson.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
as long as the main install is a lower number (higher priority) than the
updates, that should be the first one laid down. I just checked my Office
update policy, and it lists 14.1.2 before SP1, but the priority in Casper
Admin is for SP1 to be 11 and 14.1.2 is 12. And I've tested this plenty of
times and it does install in that order.

So, I believe the order they are listed in the Policy is not the order they
will install, as long as Priority is set properly.

Make sense?

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

[ernstcs]

Why write a script (which I realize does take minutes at times) when the JSS is perfectly capable of doing order for you? The same goes for packaging, the installers and patches, at least for Office 2011, just drop into the JSS as is and work (almost 99% of the time). I still make a package for other settings and things in labs, but that's about it.

Not my place to dictate how anyone does anything, or to criticize…I just find it odd…and extra work. Let the tool do the work it was designed to do for you.

Craig E

[ernstcs]

I see my reply I forgot to do the reply all on...

[#6]

The order was set and saved in casper admin early on. I tried renaming them and adding them one-by-one all to no avail. On Aug 24, 2011, at 8:41 AM, Steve Wood wrote:

Not sure what else could be done. Individual cascading policies or a script could easily do it but...


[#7]

I agree. I should be able to do this in the JSS. I could certainly write a script, but then I am managing things in multiple places. The JSS gui should be perfectly capable of handling this.

[ernstcs]

What version of the jSS are you using? That should totally be working as you think it should.

Craig E

[ernstcs]

These are all set to install to the boot volume at imaging time, we don't deploy the .1 or .2 updates of course now and go right to SP1.

Working for me in Version 8.0, hence why I asked about the version.

Craig E


[Matt]

The issue though is you are not dependent on the JSS to do everything. You make a package you can deploy with the JSS. Packaging just has always been the de facto standard and best practice for delivering software (PKG or DMG in the JSS's case.)

Just my opinion, managing packages is a pretty simple process especially since you can save the package sources and just add on to them in the future.

--
Matt Lee, CCA/ACMT/ACPT/ACDT
Senior IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group

[SeanA]

Other people have already mentioned about setting the priority order for each package in Casper Admin. I wanted to add that if multiple packages share the same priority, THEN the install will occur in alphabetical order.

Sean
~~~~~~~~~
Sean Alexander
Desktop Analyst
Macintosh Services Delivery
Lockheed Martin - Enterprise Business Services
~~~~~~~~~

[talkingmoose]

On 8/24/11 10:56 AM, "Aaron" <a.robinson.lists at gmail.com<mailto:a.robinson.lists at gmail.com>> wrote:

Other folks have chimed in on priority, which is what works for me too.

I'll add that you don't need the 14.0.2 update. It was rolled into 14.1.0.

--

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

[#13]

In 7.3 I had used alphabetical order to do this and not package priority. I recently looked at the policy in 8.2.1 noticed the packages were out of order and that's where this all started. I even re-uploaded the the packages "just in case". I have to roll this all out to a lot of machines, so I'll probably just snapshot it up to the 14.1.2 update and figure it out later.
On Aug 24, 2011, at 9:24 AM, Alexander, Sean wrote:

-Aaron

[#14]

Just to follow up on my issues, here's what I found.

The packages respect the alphanumerical order when actually installing as proved by the policy logs. When the policy is called via self service, it will install in order 01_xyz , 02_abc , 03_123. However, the JSS GUI still displays it incorrectly, which doesn't give one much confidence.

Thanks for all the thoughts. Just another thing which seemed to change after the update from 7.31 to 8.21.