Simple Packaging Question

[bmack99]

If I have a .pkg which requires the existence of another file in the same directory that the .pkg is run. How would I accomplish this utilizing Jamf Pro?

It seems I need to know the following:

1) where Jamf copies and runs a .pkg from locally 2) how to accomplish copying the dependent file to that location first in the policy, prior to the .pkg running.

Any help would be appreciated :)

[Hugonaut]

Off the cuff, How i'd skin this cat, Gonna reverse your thought process here. I'm not saying your wrong, you can 100% do it & it'd be perfectly fine. This is just how I would personally attack this. Instead of deploying your file to the location Jamf deploys packages to, My method involves complete control of where you place both the .pkg & file.

For this example

Your file path will be - /Library/BrianMcBride/
Your .pkg will be - McBride.pkg
Your "Another File" will be - Brian.file
Your Package containing McBride.pkg & Brian.file will be "FullPackage.pkg"

Step 1. Create the FullPackage.pkg with composer placing your McBride.pkg & Brian.file in the /Library/BrianMcBride/ directory.

Step 2. Create a script in jamf containing the following

#!/bin/sh

installer -target / -pkg /Library/BrianMcBride/McBride.pkg

Step 3. Create a policy that installs "FullPackage.pkg" on end user machine placing your McBride.pkg & Brian.file in the /Library/BrianMcBride/ directory

Step 4. Add the script you created in Jamf & set to run After

& that should do the trick, a few different ways to do this but thats my 2cents, hope it helps!

[alexjdale]

The other way to do this would be to repackage the original pkg. Drop the pkg and other loose files into a tmp folder as a payload, and include a postflight script that runs the installer command mentioned above. This way it's fully self-contained, so if you need to distribute the pkg some other way it's not relying on a second policy.

[mm2270]

I've always approached this the way @alexjdale mentioned. Keeping the post install script inside the .pkg itself, that way it's self contained and doesn't need a script running as After in the policy. It's the same general idea though. This approach has always worked well for me with these types of installers.

[bmack99]

@Hugonaut Thanks a ton, this worked flawlessly. I was exploring repackaging the pkg to include the dependent file but I didn't realize I needed a script to kick off the original package installation. This makes sense now. To the others, thanks for the responses, I may try this the next time I go through this exercise!

Brian

[Hugonaut]

You're welcome @brianmcbride99 glad to help. What @alexjdale & @mm2270 advised is the same exact thing but without a doubt a much cleaner approach.