Installing Xcode 8.3.3 using XIP or APP formats (offline installer)

Owner
New Contributor

Hello,

I did read almost all the existing Xcode deployment threads but could not find any info regarding the 8.3.3 deployment using the only offline Xcode installer. If I download it, its called - Xcode8.3.3.xip (https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_8.3.3/Xcode8.3.3.xip)

Once I extract this XIP file using the default apple Archive utility, I get single file called Xcode.app which is 5.3GB on disk.

However this .APP file is some kind of an installer, once I launch it manually it has the license agreement dialogs and after I accept installation begins (installation progress bars visible).

My question would be - is there any way of running this XIP or APP format installation as it is via JSS (JAMF) or some script which could execute the silent install of mentioned formats?

6 REPLIES 6

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

The .xip file is nothing more than a .zip file with digital signatures. The deployment process is the same after you decompress the file to get the resulting xcode.app. You deploy the .app to /Applications, then you run the post-install scripts found on JamfNation that will then install the extra components.

Owner
New Contributor

Thanks for the reply, so what you're saying is that I should upload the big Xcode.app file to Casper Admin as if I would do for PKG or DMG files and create installation policy on JSS and it will run a silent install?

Could you explain a bit more the "deploy the .app to /Applications" part?

Much appreciated!

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

You would have to package the xcode.app into a /pkg file via Composer (or whatever your favorite packaging tool may be) so that when run, the installer will put it into /Applications on the end user's Mac. You'd upload that pkg to your server via Casper Admin. Then in JSS, create a policy that has that xcode pkg and one of the xcode post-install scripts set to run "After".

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

Owner
New Contributor

@AVmcclint Thanks so much, that really helped. I now have a working Xcode.PKG installer and a working post installation script, just needed a little basic guidance :)

Once thing though, when Xcode is just installed it shows up some annoying "Welcome" screen which can be manually disabled, but is there any way of having it already disabled silently before user has to do it? I know that this kind of thing should be achievable by info.plist file but I could not find an entry/variable name to disable that welcome screen. Any ideas on that maybe?

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

No idea on that one. :-