Copy a .pkg file as-is to a client Mac

[AVmcclint]

I have a RecoveryPartitionInstaller.pkg that I'd like to copy as-is to various Macs' /Users/Shared/ folders so that I can manually run this installer as needed. [Long story, just accept that this is what I need for right now] The problem is that when I use Composer and try to make a DMG that contains /Users/Shared/RecoveryPartitionInstaller.pkg, Composer wants to convert it to "source"- whatever that means - and it won't give me an option to save as a .dmg. Infact, the Build as DMG and Build as PKG icons are grayed out.

How do I push any .pkg as-is to a specific location without using ARD since Composer wants to treat it special and not as just any other file?

[jrserapio]

How are you adding the .pkg to Composer, are you dragging the file to the sidebar or the center pane? Sounds like you are dragging the pkg to the sidebar. What version of Composer are you using?

First screen shot shows me dragging the pkg to the side bar, second is if i drag into the main pane. Is this your scenario?

[AVmcclint]

I'm dragging it into the Composer 9.65 window to the sidebar just like I've done every other file I needed to put into a DMG form.
If I drag it to the big part of the window, it tries to add it to existing packages/Sources I've already got listed.

[kitzy]

@AVmcclint

For most files, that approach works just fine. Composer treats PKGs a little differently. Using the method you're describing, Composer is designed to "deconstruct" the PKG (hence the convert to source button) giving you the ability to reverse engineer or modify a package.

To get the results you're after, try dragging the folder containing the PKG into the sidebar. If there's anything else in that folder that you don't want in your final package, you can remove it. Alternatively, create an empty package and drag and drop the PKG directly into the main window instead of the sidebar.

Hope that helps!

[AVmcclint]

Dragging the parent folder did the trick. Removing all the extra stuff is a nuisance but I can live with it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[rdwhitt]

I'll just create a temp folder with just the pkg in the location I want, in this case /Users/Shared/tempfolder/some.pkg. Drag the temp folder into Composer's side bar and then move the .pkg one directory up. Then you just have to delete the now empty temp folder.