Package Indexing

[pseager]

What is the purpose of indexing a package in Casper Admin?

[CasperSally]

It's for DMGs you want to uninstall later. I'd guess rarely used by most

[ManjunathKosigi]

Indexing will enable the uninstallation option for the package (.pkg and .dmg).
Background: indexing fetches the files information from the package and stores in the DB so that files can be removed during uninstallation. It’s not recommended to index the package until it is really necessary, as it dumps the file info in DB. Hence don’t index the package until you are going to uninstall it.

[Chris_Hafner]

@mkosigi Only for .DMGs not for .PKGs. While you have the option to index a .pkg in Casper Admin it is totally useless.

[ManjunathKosigi]

@Chris_Hafner oh! thanks for information.

[nigelg]

@Chris_Hafner @mkosigi Interesting - I was told in JAMF training that you could index pkg files for uninstallation but any files created or moved as a result of the scripts inside the package would not included. I have always assumed that to be the case but I have never used it or tested it.

[Chris_Hafner]

@nigelg @mkosigi WOW! OK, so I've JUST retested this and @nigelg IS CORRECT! I'm not sure when this changed because for years indexing .pkgs created with composer did nothing but I have just tested a quick uninstall of Firefox ESR, which was a .pkg created with Composer, Indexed and set to allow uninstallation in Casper Admin. I'm intrigued as to exactly when this happened.

P.S. As I suspected the flat .pkgs I tested as well as .pkg installers for things like Citrix, Flash etc don't do anything.