Migrating users from Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) to Acrobat Reader DC|2017 (Classic) [AKA Adobe Rabbit Hole]

[donmontalvo]

Well finally butted heads with the notorious Continuous --> Classic migration request.

Adobe didn't bother to ensure install of either removes the other, of course that would have made too much sense.

Testing was done using Parallels Desktop 13.2.0, and VMs were 10.13.2, Thin Provisioned on our Jamf Pro server.

Packages downloaded from Adobe were renamed to follow our <vendor><Application><version>.pkg convention.

Start by SCP'ing package installers to /Users/adminuser/Desktop and staying logged off (who uses GUI anyways).

bash-3.2# ls -l
-rw-r--r--  1 adminuser  staff   96391815 Feb 22 21:53 AcroRdr2015Upd1500630417_MUI.pkg
-rw-r--r--  1 adminuser  staff  152542867 Feb  6 21:31 AcroRdr2015_1500630416_MUI.pkg
-rw-r--r--  1 adminuser  staff  119071379 Feb 22 10:38 AcroRdr2017Upd1701130079_MUI.pkg
-rw-r--r--  1 adminuser  staff  174751495 Feb  6 13:38 AcroRdr2017_1701130078_MUI.pkg
-r-xr-xr-x  1 adminuser  staff  170151488 Oct 16 13:25 Adobe_ReaderDC_17.012.20093.pkg

====================================================================================

=== Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Classic) upgrade: ===

====================================================================================

Install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) to start, confirm paths and version:

bash-3.2# installer -pkg Adobe_ReaderDC_17.012.20093.pkg -target /
installer: Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous)
installer: Installing at base path /
installer: The install was successful.
bash-3.2# ls -l /Applications/ | grep Reader
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      wheel     96 Mar 28 17:14 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app
bash-3.2# defaults read /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
17.012.20093

Install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Classic) and confirm version and paths.
NOTE Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) did not get removed:

bash-3.2# installer -pkg AcroRdr2015_1500630416_MUI.pkg -target /
installer: Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Classic)
installer: Upgrading at base path /
installer: The upgrade was successful.
bash-3.2# ls -l /Applications/ | grep Reader
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      wheel     96 Mar 28 17:16 Adobe Acrobat Reader 2015.app
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      wheel     96 Mar 28 17:14 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app
bash-3.2# defaults read /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader 2015.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
15.006.30416

Install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (15.006.30417) update and confirm version:

bash-3.2# installer -pkg AcroRdr2015Upd1500630417_MUI.pkg -target /
installer: Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (15.006.30417)
installer: Upgrading at base path /
installer: The upgrade was successful.
bash-3.2# defaults read /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader 2015.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
15.006.30417

Conformed scripting removal of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) does not affect Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Classic):

/bin/rm -Rf /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app

==================================================================================

= Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) to Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017 (Classic) upgrade: =

==================================================================================

Install DC (Continuous) and confirm path:

bash-3.2# installer -pkg Adobe_ReaderDC_17.012.20093.pkg -target /
installer: Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous)
installer: Installing at base path /
installer: The install was successful.
bash-3.2# ls -l /Applications/ | grep Reader
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      wheel     96 Mar 28 17:14 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app

Install 2017 (Classic) and confirm version.
NOTE Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) did not get removed:

Note Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017 (Classic) reference in install output:

bash-3.2# installer -pkg AcroRdr2017_1701130078_MUI.pkg -target /
installer: Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017 (Classic)
installer: Upgrading at base path /
installer: The upgrade was successful.
bash-3.2# ls -l /Applications/ | grep Reader
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      wheel     96 Mar 28 18:33 Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017.app
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      wheel     96 Mar 28 17:14 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app
bash-3.2# defaults read /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
17.011.30078

Install update and confirm version:

bash-3.2# installer -pkg AcroRdr2017Upd1701130079_MUI.pkg -target /
installer: Package name is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (17.011.30079)
installer: Upgrading at base path /
installer: The upgrade was successful.
bash-3.2# defaults read /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
17.011.30079

Conformed scripting removal of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous) does not affect Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Classic):

/bin/rm -Rf /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app

Testing took about an hour, and of course we have EAs and SmCGs in place to ensure nobody gets rolled back.

HTH the next poor soul tasked with dealing with Adobe's mess.

PS, tomorrow will get this into policies...we do our initial testing this way to vet out vender packages before we bother with policies.

Don

[kstrick]

I hate this program. I never use it, but trying to maintain it sucks.....

[donmontalvo]

Yeap, however if you're forced to, good to know versions can conflict (much like Firefox ESR) if you don't step around the boobie traps. :)