Office 2008 12.2.4 will not install or cache

[#1]

Trying to deploy the latest Office 2008 update as supplied from MS as an
.mpkg fails with an error stating that it has no valid index.bom and that
consequently it will be treated as a flat package, which it is not.
Predictably this fails.

/usr/sbin/jamf is version 7.2
Executing Policy Cache Office 2008 12.2.4 Update....
Caching package... Downloading BOM for Office 2008 12.2.4 Update.mpkg...
This Apple Package did not have a valid index.bom file. Assuming it is a
flat file package. Downloading http://svr012.hogarthww.private:80/CasperShare/Packages//Office
2008 12.2.4 Update.mpkg...
Error: Package not succesfully downloaded: 6

Has anyone got a good solution to deploying this update via Casper. I'd
rather not have to use Composer to take a before and after snapshot of
Office if I can use the original package.

I thought of taking the individual .pkg files out of the .mpkg but there are
allot of them and it doesn't look like a particularly elegant alternative
either.

-- Stephen Buckley
Systems Engineer | Hogarth Worldwide
Landline: 020 7420 8360
Cell: 07894788351
Email: stephen.buckley at hogarthww.com

[RobertHammen]

On Mar 11, 2010, at 2:07 PM, Stephen Buckley wrote: Robert, which problem did you have? I have the .mpkg working, just only over AFP.

I don't have AFP enabled/accessible at one of the sites I manage, so everything has to be installed via http, and the MS-provided .mpkg won't work.

That said, I cant leave HTTP distribution off, and you solution sounds more efficient, I wouldn't mind a copy of your diffs.

Since I've had a couple of requests (again, these are the changes from 12.2.3->12.2.4 only):

Inside /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/
Microsoft Entourage.app
Microsoft Excel.app
Microsoft PowerPoint.app
Microsoft Word.app

Inside /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/
EntourageCAPI.framework
EntourageCore.framework
EntourageLegacy.framework
EntourageSynchronization.framework
Microsoft Database Daemon.app
Microsoft Database Utility.app
Microsoft Graph.app
MicrosoftChartPlugin.framework
MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework
MicrosoftOffice.framework

Inside /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/Shared Applications/Proofing Tools/
EnglishSpeller.proofingtool
FrenchSpeller.proofingtool

Inside /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/HV1.0/
Microsoft Help Viewer.app

Inside /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0/
Microsoft Error Reporting.app
Microsoft Ship Asserts.app

Inside /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office Converter Support/
MicrosoftChartPlugin.framework
MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework
MicrosoftOffice.framework
Open XML for Excel.framework

Is there a technical reason you are caching then installing your .dmg updater? Or is this simply to speed up the actual installation process, after having the network copy happen in the background?

At this particular site the users are mostly on MacBooks/MacBook Pro's, and the users currently only see the JSS when they are VPN'd in (in the process of hosting it externally). I cache the larger (>50 MB) packages since it's pretty unpredictable when the users will either sleep their Macs, or drop the connection. Plus that way I can also more easily notify/warn them/make sure the apps are quit before the install (and the users don't have to wait for the software to download since it's cached/they don't get bugged about it until it's on their machine ready to go)...

--Robert

[jarednichols]

I've frequently found that I need to go into Server Admin and re-propogate
permissions through the Casper Share so that mpkg installers (especially
Office ones) will work properly.

j

[karthikeyan_mac]

Hi,

Fix Permission using JSS Utility in File Sharing.

Regards,
Karthikeyan

http://www.jamfsoftware.com/kb/article.php?id=044

On 3/12/2010 12:12 AM, Nichols, Jared - 1160 - MITLL wrote: I've frequently found that I need to go into Server Admin and re-propogate permissions through the Casper Share so that mpkg installers (especially Office ones) will work properly. j On 3/11/10 1:34 PM, "Stephen Buckley"<Stephen.Buckley at hogarthww.com> wrote:

Trying to deploy the latest Office 2008 update as supplied from MS as an .mpkg fails with an error stating that it has no valid index.bom and that consequently it will be treated as a flat package, which it is not. Predictably this fails. /usr/sbin/jamf is version 7.2 Executing Policy Cache Office 2008 12.2.4 Update.... Caching package... Downloading BOM for Office 2008 12.2.4 Update.mpkg... This Apple Package did not have a valid index.bom file. Assuming it is a flat file package. Downloading http://svr012.hogarthww.private:80/CasperShare/Packages//Office 2008 12.2.4 Update.mpkg... Error: Package not succesfully downloaded: 6 Has anyone got a good solution to deploying this update via Casper. I'd rather not have to use Composer to take a before and after snapshot of Office if I can use the original package. I thought of taking the individual .pkg files out of the .mpkg but there are allot of them and it doesn't look like a particularly elegant alternative either. --- Jared F. Nichols Desktop Engineer, Client Services Information Services Department MIT Lincoln Laboratory 244 Wood Street Lexington, Massachusetts 02420 781.981.5436

---

Casper mailing list Casper at list.jamfsoftware.com http://list.jamfsoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/casper

[#5]

Jared,

Thanks for the advice. Also thanks Karthikeyan. It was either the
permissions fix or, the fact that my test machine was using a different DNS
server which wasn't resolving the fully qualified hostname for the
distribution point correctly. Either way I now have the package downloading.

However I have a very odd problem. If I run the installation with HTTP
turned on on my distribution point the installation completes successfully
according to Casper's logs, butŠ when the installer runs it dumps 40 or so
odd files from the installer into the root of the hard disk and stops.
Disabling HTTP on the distribution point and causing a fallback to AFP
results in a successful download and installation of the update!

I'm going to try caching (rather than installing) the update via HTTP and
AFP and compare the results to see if I can figure out what's going on.

Thanks for taking an interest.

Stephen

-- Stephen Buckley
Systems Engineer | Hogarth Worldwide
Landline: 020 7420 8360
Cell: 07894788351
Email: stephen.buckley at hogarthww.com

[RobertHammen]

Had this problem yesterday. I ended up snapshotting the 12.2.3->12.2.4 update, but manually built an update .dmg which replaces the individual files, rather than parts of files (I've had inconsistent results doing so previously - see any Acrobat update). I cache and then install this to the 12.2.3 users, and updated my 12.2.3 install package with the 12.2.4 files and built a new installer which is scoped to be cached/installed on machines having Office 2008 versions prior to 12.2.3.

Said package turned out to be about 120 MB, far smaller (and faster to install/deploy) than the .mpkg...

I can post a list of the changed files if anyone desires...

--Robert