Recommendations for installing applications with Brew in Jamf

gloper1977
Contributor

I'm looking for recommendation for scripting installs with Brew to deploy software.  Whenever I try to do an install from Jamf using brew it fails stating cannot be run as a root user or something like that.  I've found several recommended ways do it but never seem to work.

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sdagley
Esteemed Contributor II

@gloper1977 Using Brew driven by Jamf Pro to deploy software via isn't a great idea. You'll find Installomator is a better option, and be sure to check the Wiki for it: https://github.com/Installomator/Installomator/wiki

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sdagley
Esteemed Contributor II

@gloper1977 Using Brew driven by Jamf Pro to deploy software via isn't a great idea. You'll find Installomator is a better option, and be sure to check the Wiki for it: https://github.com/Installomator/Installomator/wiki

Thank you, I'll look into it.

So I have been playing with Installomator in theory it sounds fantastic but I've yet to get an install to complete successfully or it says it finishes successfully but the application is not in the Application fold or Launchpad.  I've tried it both locally just running the script like ./Installomator.sh firefox or creating a Policy in Jamf using the guide from https://scriptingosx.com/2020/06/using-installomator-with-jamf-pro/.  From everything I've read I am not intended to actually modify the script you just use arguments in Jamf or in terminal.  Please correct me if I'm missing something.

sdagley
Esteemed Contributor II

@gloper1977 When running the Installomator script locally you'd need to run it via sudo:

sudo ./Installomator.sh firefox

That wouldn't apply if you're running it via Jamf Pro though which makes me ask if you're doing anything to block mounting of disk images? Looking at the Installomator script it appears to be downloading the .dmg of Firefox rather than the .pkg installer, and if you're preventing mounting of disk images that's prevent it from working.

We are not blocking any functions like disk mounting.  Truthfully our MacBooks are pretty open for the user.  Seeing as most of my MacBook users are developers we have always just made them local admins.  So most of them just install anything they need themselves.  I have a bunch of software in Self Service for just incase the day comes that we get a Cyber Security manager that gets a bug up his butt about it and tells me to take admin rights away from everyone, hence why I look for better ways to do software deployments.  

sdagley
Esteemed Contributor II

@gloper1977 Being prepared for that is a good idea, and making as many apps as possible available via Self Service will help your users get used to the idea it should be their source for installs. In case you haven't already I'd suggest you join the MacAdmins Slack (click the Slack tab on https://www.macadmins.org/) where you will find an #installomator channel devoted to the Installomator script.

ACD
New Contributor

The script also comes in DEBUG mode for testing purposes. You'll need to open up a text editor or IDE and change the line in the script where it sets DEBUG mode to 0. This will actually install the applications to the machine.

That was the issue, I left it in DEBUG.

gloper1977
Contributor

I watched Armin Briegel's video introducing Installomator and figured out what I was doing wrong.  This is fantastic, I'm moving all the Policies I can over to use Installomator.  Thank you so much for the recommendation.