Slack OS X app auto-install/update deployment method / script

Thanks Owen! I've been finding it a pain as well to deploy slack in a non-app store dependent mode that is easy to update without having to get your end user to sign in every time. I'll give this a try.

Great! That's exactly why I wrote it. Let me know if you run into issues with the script, I've been using it to install Slack during deployment for the last five months.

Hey Owen,

This is fantastic, you've really helped me out. I am starting to have some funny issues however. Are you scripting a "quit" before and an "open" after? I'm getting some strange error messages when I do so not sure if you have experienced the same thing..

Sometimes during the quit, sometimes during the open I'll get this:
Running script Open Slack...
Script exit code: 1
Script result: LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed with error -10810 for the file /Applications/Slack.app.

Thanks for this! Works great!

@KyleGDG @nbaumgart

Glad the two of you were able to use the script, I do recommend using device-based VPP to deploy Slack when possible however. The script has worked well enough, but I've seen an issue or two with automatic updates when deploying this way that I haven't taken the time to investigate yet. Re-running the script / deleting Slack from Applications and then downloading again works fine, but it's not ideal.

Let me know if issues come up.

Hi Everyone,

I've been happily using this Slack installation script for months now but it suddenly stopped working in the past few weeks. When I run the script locally on a Mac, it works fine, but when I push it through Casper (either as part of my deployment workflow or from a Self-Service item), it fails with a "Cannot Install Item" error . The logs in the JSS aren't very helpful, they only read:

[STEP 1 of 4]
Executing Policy Install Slack
[STEP 2 of 4]
[STEP 3 of 4]
[STEP 4 of 4]

Is there another place to look for more detailed logs about how the script ran in the Casper context?

Thanks,

-Mike

I am seeing this error now that Slack 3.0.0 is out -

/usr/bin/unzip -o -q "$slackZipPath" -d "$SLACK_UNZIP_DIRECTORY"
[/tmp/Slack-3.0.0.dmg]
End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not
a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the
latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
the last disk(s) of this archive.
unzip: cannot find zipfile directory in one of /tmp/Slack-3.0.0.dmg or
/tmp/Slack-3.0.0.dmg.zip, and cannot find /tmp/Slack-3.0.0.dmg.ZIP, period.
rm -rf "$slackZipPath"

I believe Slack changed their downloader from a .zip to a .dmg.

This should replace any .zip functionality you have in the script:

1# Downloads the Slack Update
2/usr/bin/curl --retry 3 -L "https://slack.com/ssb/download-osx" -o "/tmp/Slack.dmg"
3
4# Mount the .dmg 
5hdiutil attach /tmp/Slack.dmg -nobrowse
6
7#Print existing verion
8slackVersion=$(defaults read /Applications/Slack.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString)
9printf "Removing Slack version %s
10" "$slackVersion"
11
12# Remove the existing Application
13rm -rf /Applications/Slack.app
14
15# Copy the updated .app into place
16cp -R /Volumes/Slack/Slack.app /Applications
17
18# unmount the .dmg
19hdiutil unmount /Volumes/Slack

@mhinsz Can you expand on this? I'm a noob and can't figure out what to replace.

Slack also now changed their mount dmg name to "Slack420921516146465233" so the unmount name might need to have some logic behind it as well . I will be posting a fork for this shortly.

@nimitz slack changed from a .zip download file type to a .dmg - so instead of unzipping now you need to mount the dmg and then copy the app from the Volume/Slack420921516146465233 to the Applications folder.

@mhinsz Slack changed the dmg mount volume name scheme - take a look at my fork below - happy hunting!

Here is my fork of @owen.pragel Slack script installer - cheers

[https://github.com/bwiessner/install_latest_slack_osx_app](link URL)

@bwiessner

Looks like your embedded link points back to this JAMFNation discussion when you click on it. Here is the link to your GitHub

https://github.com/bwiessner/install_latest_slack_osx_app

Thanks for sharing this!

This script works well. Thanks for posting and sharing.

Script works! Thanks for sharing!

Just wanted to say this script is still working and works great!

Also just looking at it is actually quite inspirational in terms of how as a JAMF admin you can make software policies that don't have to be manually re-packaged and updated because they stay good for so long.

Only question is @owen.pragel where did you find out the site you used to query the version numbers? I couldn't figure out where you found that json link.

I hope you're still around to answer that question!

Looks like Slack has changed their wrapper method from DMG to Zip. May run into issues if DMG is hard coded. Trying to work on a script which will check for what kind of file was downloaded and then either mount dmg then move or unzip to /Applications.

This would be the easiest way, you don't have to care about the file extension:

1#!/bin/bash
2
3install_slack() {
4  download=$(curl -s "https://downloads.slack-edge.com/mac_releases/releases.json" | jq -r '.[].url' | tail -1)
5  echo "=> Download from '${download}'"
6  curl -s "${download}" -o "/tmp/$(basename ${download})"
7  echo "=> Install '$(basename ${download})' to '/Applications/Slack.app'"
8  ditto -x -k "/tmp/$(basename ${download})" "/Applications/"
9  rm -f "/tmp/$(basename ${download})"
10}
11
12if [ ! -s "/Applications/Slack.app" ]; then
13  echo "=> Slack.app is not installed"
14  install_slack
15elif [ ! $(defaults read "/Applications/Slack.app/Contents/Info.plist" CFBundleShortVersionString) = $(curl -s "https://downloads.slack-edge.com/mac_releases/releases.json" | jq -r '.[].version' | tail -1) ]; then
16  echo "=> Slack.app is installed but not current"
17  install_slack
18else
19  echo "=> Slack.app is installed and current"
20fi

You will need to have jq installed: https://stedolan.github.io/jq/

Thanks @anverhousseini. Trying to get something going without installing the jq as a dependancy.

I recreated the Slack install script without the jq dependency. Feel free to check it out Here

It just came to my attention that

"https://downloads.slack-edge.com/mac_releases/releases.json will soon be removed due to a change in [Slack's] updating process. They can hit our update endpoint, that URL looks something like:
https://slack.com/desktop/update?id=<any-random-string>&platform=darwin&os_version=<their-os-version>&app_version=<their-app-version>&channel=<their-channel>
They can find an example in their browser.log. Search for a line with the text MacUpdater: Direct feed URL and copy the URL from there."

I will be working to rewrite the Slack version pull this weekend, but the quickest fix would be to change

currentSlackVersion="4.0.0"

To address Slacks removal of their releases.json link, I have updated the currentSlackVersion variable to:
Edited 8/1/19 to point to RSS link

1currentSlackVersion=$(/usr/bin/curl -sL 'https://slack.com/release-notes/mac/rss' | grep -o "Slack-[0-9].[0-9].[0-9]"  | cut -c 7-11 | head -n 1)

The latest version of my Slack install/update script can be found here:

https://github.com/shaquir/ShellScript/blob/master/installSlack.sh

Question?

What if you currently have the latest version of Slack which at the moment is 4.1.2 if they are working on something in Slack would this script check the version and just exit if it's the latest version?

I want to add it as part of my check-in's but don't want to interrupt any of our Developers in the processes.

Would this work on Catalina?

@rmgmedia

I been using the following script that up to this point has been working for me not sure if it has changed for Catalina.

1#!/usr/bin/env bash
2
3################################################################################
4# Custom Functions (These functions may need to be edited for specific apps)
5################################################################################
6extract_latest_version(){
7  # used to extract the latest version from a website.
8  # /usr/bin/grep -Eo '^.{4}$' can be used to extract a version number of a specific length.
9  # generic extraction code: perl -pe 'if(($_)=/([0-9]+([.][0-9]+)+)/){$_.="
10"}' | /usr/bin/sort -Vu | /usr/bin/tail -n 1
11  perl -pe 'if(($_)=/([0-9]+([.][0-9]+)+)/){$_.="
12"}' | /usr/bin/sort -Vu | /usr/bin/grep -Eo '^.{5}$' | /usr/bin/tail -n 1
13}
14
15################################################################################
16# Fuctions (DO NOT EDIT THE BELOW FUNCTIONS, EXCEPT FOR MAIN)
17################################################################################
18message(){
19  # description of what function does.
20  local description='Displays a message to the customer if the defined application is running. Allow the customer to cancel if needed.'
21
22  # define local variables.
23  local message="${1}"
24  local title='IT Support'
25  local jamfHelper='/Library/Application Support/JAMF/bin/jamfHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/jamfHelper'
26  local cancelMessage='User chose to cancel the update the process.'
27
28  # data validation.
29  [[ -z "${applicationName}" ]] && applicationName='Application'
30  [[ -z "${applicationState}" ]] && applicationState=0
31  [[ -z "${message}" ]] && message='Press OK to continue'
32
33  # display dialog box message if application is running, otherwise continue silently.
34  if [[ -e "${jamfHelper}" && "${applicationState}" -eq 1 ]]; then
35    if ! "${jamfHelper}" 
36    -windowType hud 
37    -title "${title}" 
38    -heading "${applicationName} Update" 
39    -button1 'OK' 
40    -button2 'Cancel' 
41    -description "${message}" 
42    -defaultButton 1 
43    -lockHUD &>/dev/null
44    then
45      printf '%s
46' "ERROR: ${cancelMessage}" 1>&2
47      exit 1
48    fi
49  fi
50}
51
52error(){
53  # description of what function does.
54  local description='Displays an error message to the customer if the defined application is running. Otherwise prints to STDERR.'
55
56  # declare local variables.
57  local errorMessage="${1}"
58  local title='Block.one IT Support'
59  local jamfHelper='/Library/Application Support/JAMF/bin/jamfHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/jamfHelper'
60  local defaultMessage='Update Failed.'
61
62  # data validation
63  [[ -z "${applicationName}" ]] && applicationName='Application'
64  [[ -z "${applicationState}" ]] && applicationState=0
65  [[ -z "${errorMessage}" ]] && errorMessage='something went wrong. update failed.'
66
67  # display error message to customer only if application is running, otherwise print to STDERR.
68  if [[ -e "${jamfHelper}" && "${applicationState}" -eq 1 ]]; then
69    "${jamfHelper}" 
70    -windowType hud 
71    -title "${title}" 
72    -heading "${applicationName} Update" 
73    -button1 'OK' 
74    -description "${defaultMessage}" 
75    -defaultButton 1 
76    -lockHUD &>/dev/null &
77    printf '%s
78' "ERROR: ${errorMessage}" 1>&2
79    exit 1
80  else
81    printf '%s
82' "ERROR: ${errorMessage}" 1>&2
83    exit 1
84  fi
85}
86
87get_installed_version(){
88  # description of what function does.
89  local description='Read and return version information from the Info.plist of the defined application.(aka: obtain version information for currently installed application.)'
90
91  # define local variables.
92  local applicationPath="${1}"
93  local installedVersion
94
95  # if the application path is defined and is a directory attempt to read and return version information
96  [[ -z "${applicationPath}" || ! -d "${applicationPath}" ]] && error 'application not installed or path undefined.'
97  installedVersion="$( /usr/bin/defaults read "${applicationPath}"/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString 2> /dev/null )" || error 'could not detect installed version.'
98  [[ -z "${installedVersion}" ]] && error 'installed version undefined.'
99
100  # return installed version.
101  printf '%s
102' "${installedVersion}"
103}
104
105get_latest_version(){
106  # description of what function does.
107  local description='Extracts latest version information from a URL.'
108
109  # define local variables.
110  local latestVersionUrl="${1}"
111  local data
112  local latestVersion
113
114  # attempt to extract version information from URL and return value.
115  [[ -z "${latestVersionUrl}" ]] && error 'URL to search for latest version undefined.'
116  data="$( /usr/bin/curl -sLJ "${latestVersionUrl}" )" || error 'failed to download version data.'
117  [[ -z "${data}" ]] && error 'failed to download version data.'
118  latestVersion="$( printf '%s
119' "${data}" | extract_latest_version )" || error 'failed to extract latest version.'
120  [[ -z "${latestVersion}" ]] && error 'latest version undefined.'
121
122  # return latest version.
123  printf '%s
124' "${latestVersion}"
125}
126
127compare_versions(){
128  # description of what function does.
129  local description='Determines if the installed and latest versions are equal or not.'
130
131  # define local variables.
132  local latestVersion="${1}"
133  local installedVersion="${2}"
134
135  # data validation.
136  [[ -z "${latestVersion}" ]] && error 'latest version undefined.'
137  [[ -z "${installedVersion}" ]] && error 'installed version undefined.'
138
139  # use the sort commands built-in ability to sort version numbers.
140  if [[ "$( printf '%s
141' "${latestVersion}" "${installedVersion}" | /usr/bin/sort -V | /usr/bin/head -n 1 )" != "${latestVersion}" ]]; then
142    printf '%s
143' 'application needs to be updated.'
144  elif [[ "${latestVersion}" != "${installedVersion}" ]]; then
145    error 'installed version is newer. latest version URL may need to be updated.'
146  else
147    printf '%s
148' 'application is on the latest version.'
149    exit 0
150  fi
151}
152
153download(){
154  # description of what function does.
155  local description='Downloads a file from a given URL to a temporary directory and returns the full path to the download.'
156
157  # define local variables.
158  local dlURL="${1}"
159  dlDir=''
160  local dlName
161  local productVer
162  local userAgent
163  downloadPath=''
164
165  # if the download URL was provided. Build the effective URL (this helps if the given URL redirects to a specific download URL.)
166  [[ -z "${dlURL}" ]] && error 'download url undefined.'
167  dlURL="$( /usr/bin/curl "${dlURL}" -s -L -I -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' )" || error 'failed to determine effective URL.'
168
169  # create temporary directory for the download.
170  dlDir="$( /usr/bin/mktemp -d 2> /dev/null )" || error 'failed to create temporary download directory.'
171  [[ ! -d "${dlDir}" ]] && error 'temporary download directory does not exist.'
172  export dlDir
173
174  # build user agent for curl.
175  productVer="$( /usr/bin/sw_vers -productVersion | /usr/bin/tr '.' '_' )" || error 'could not detect product version needed for user agent.'
176  [[ -z "${productVer}" ]] && error 'product version undefined'
177  userAgent='Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X '"${productVer})"' AppleWebKit/535.6.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.2 Safari/535.6.2'
178
179  # change the present working directory to the temporary download directory and attempt download.
180  cd "${dlDir}" || error 'could not change pwd to temporary download directory.'
181  dlName="$( /usr/bin/curl -sLJO -A "${userAgent}" -w "%{filename_effective}" --retry 10 "${dlURL}" )" || error 'failed to download latest version.'
182  [[ -z "${dlName}" ]] && error 'download filename undefined.'
183  downloadPath="${dlDir}/${dlName}"
184  [[ ! -e "${downloadPath}" ]] && error 'download filename undefined. can not locate download.'
185
186  # export full path to the downloaded file including extension.
187  export downloadPath
188}
189
190detect_running(){
191  # description of what function does.
192  local description='Detect if the defined application is currently running. Export the application state so it is available globally.'
193
194  # define variables.
195  applicationState=0
196
197  # determine if application is running and return result.
198  # 1 = running , 0 = not running.
199  if /usr/bin/pgrep -q "${applicationName}"; then
200    applicationState=1
201    export applicationState
202  else
203    export applicationState
204  fi
205}
206
207kill_running(){
208  # description of what function does.
209  local description='If the defined application is running. Give customer option to close it or cancel the update process.'
210
211  # notify customer and get input. attempt killing application if it is running and customer has agreed.
212  message "${applicationName} needs to be updated. The application will close if you continue."
213  if [[ "${applicationState}" -eq 1 ]]; then
214    /usr/bin/pkill -9 "${applicationName}" &>/dev/null
215  fi
216}
217
218uninstall(){
219  # description of what function does.
220  local description='Uninstalls the defined application.'
221
222  # define local variables.
223  local applicationPath="${1}"
224
225  # data validation.
226  [[ ! -d "${applicationPath}" ]] && error 'app path undefined or not a directory.'
227
228  # attempt uninstall.
229  /bin/mv "${applicationPath}" "${applicationPath}.old" &> /dev/null || error "failed to uninstall application."
230  sleep 2
231}
232
233install(){
234  # description of what function does.
235  local description='Determines what kind of installer the download is. Attempts install accordingly.'
236
237  # determine download installer type. (dmg, pkg, zip)
238  if [[ "$( printf '%s
239' "${downloadPath}" | /usr/bin/grep -c '.dmg$' )" -eq 1 ]]; then
240    install_dmg
241  elif [[ "$( printf '%s
242' "${downloadPath}" | /usr/bin/grep -c '.pkg$' )" -eq 1 ]]; then
243    install_pkg
244  elif [[ "$( printf '%s
245' "${downloadPath}" | /usr/bin/grep -c '.zip$' )" -eq 1 ]]; then
246    install_zip
247  else
248    error 'could not detect install type.'
249  fi
250}
251
252install_pkg(){
253  # description of what function does.
254  local description='Silently install pkg.'
255
256  # define local variables.
257  local pkg="${1}"
258
259  if [[ -z "${pkg}" ]]; then
260    pkg="${downloadPath}"
261  fi
262
263  # use installer command line tool to silently install pkg.
264  /usr/sbin/installer -allowUntrusted -pkg "${pkg}" -target / &> /dev/null || error 'failed to install latest version pkg.'
265}
266
267install_dmg(){
268  # description of what function does.
269  local description='Silently install dmg.'
270
271  # define variables.
272  mnt=''
273  local dmg="${1}"
274  local app
275  local pkg
276
277
278  if [[ -z "${dmg}" ]]; then
279    dmg="${downloadPath}"
280  fi
281
282  # create temporary mount directory for dmg and export path if exists.
283  mnt="$( /usr/bin/mktemp -d 2> /dev/null )" || error 'failed to create temporary mount point for dmg.'
284  [[ ! -d "${mnt}" ]] && error 'failed to verify temporary mount point for dmg exists.'
285  export mnt
286
287  # silently attach the dmg download to the temporary mount directory and determine what it contains (app or pkg)
288  sleep 2
289  /usr/bin/hdiutil attach "${dmg}" -quiet -nobrowse -mountpoint ${mnt} &> /dev/null || error 'failed to mount dmg.'
290  app="$( /bin/ls "${mnt}" | /usr/bin/grep '.app$' | head -n 1 )"
291  pkg="$( /bin/ls "${mnt}" | /usr/bin/grep '.pkg$' | head -n 1 )"
292
293  # attempt install based on contents of dmg.
294  if [[ ! -z "${app}" && -e "${mnt}/${app}" ]]; then
295    cp -Rf "${mnt}/${app}" '/Applications' &> /dev/null || error "failed to copy the latest version to the applications directory."
296  elif [[ ! -z "${pkg}" && -e "${mnt}/${pkg}" ]]; then
297    install_pkg "${mnt}/${pkg}"
298  else
299    error 'could not detect installation type in mounted dmg.'
300  fi
301}
302
303install_zip(){
304
305  # define variables.
306  uz=''
307  local app
308  local pkg
309  local dmg
310
311  # create temporary unzip directory and export globally if exists.
312  uz="$( /usr/bin/mktemp -d 2> /dev/null )" || error 'failed to create temporary unzip directory for zip.'
313  [[ ! -d "${uz}" ]] && error 'failed to verify temporary unzip directory exists.'
314  export uz
315
316  # unzip zip file and determine installer type. (app, pkg, dmg)
317  /usr/bin/unzip "${downloadPath}" -d "${uz}" &> /dev/null || error 'failed to unzip download.'
318  app="$( /bin/ls ${uz} | /usr/bin/grep '.app$' | head -n 1 )"
319  pkg="$( /bin/ls ${uz} | /usr/bin/grep '.pkg$' | head -n 1 )"
320  dmg="$( /bin/ls ${uz} | /usr/bin/grep '.dmg$' | head -n 1 )"
321
322  # attempt install based on contents of zip file.
323  if [[ ! -z "${app}" && -e "${uz}/${app}" ]]; then
324    cp -Rf "${uz}/${app}" '/Applications' &> /dev/null || error "failed to copy the latest version to the applications directory."
325  elif [[ ! -z "${pkg}" && -e "${uz}/${pkg}" ]]; then
326    install_pkg "${uz}/${pkg}"
327  elif [[ ! -z "${dmg}" && -e "${uz}/${dmg}" ]]; then
328    install_dmg "${uz}/${dmg}"
329  else
330    error 'could not detect installation type in unzipped download.'
331  fi
332}
333
334cleanup(){
335  # description of what function does.
336  local description='Removes temporary items created during the download and installation processes.'
337
338  local applicationPath="/Applications/${applicationName}.app"
339
340  # if a temporary mount directory has been created, force unmount and remove the directory.
341  if [[ -d "${mnt}" ]]; then
342    /usr/bin/hdiutil detach -force -quiet "${mnt}"
343    /sbin/umount -f "${mnt}" &> /dev/null
344    /bin/rm -rf "${mnt}" &> /dev/null
345  fi
346
347  # if temporary unzip directory exists, remove it.
348  if [[ -d "${uz}" ]]; then
349    /bin/rm -rf "${uz}" &> /dev/null
350  fi
351
352  # if the defined application does not exist restore the original to the apps directory.
353  if [[ ! -d "${applicationPath}" ]]; then
354    printf '%s
355' 'Update failed. Restoring original application...'
356    /bin/mv "${applicationPath}.old" "${applicationPath}" &> /dev/null
357  elif [[ -d "${applicationPath}.old" ]]; then
358    /bin/rm -rf "${applicationPath}.old" &> /dev/null
359  fi
360
361  # if a temporary download directory has been created. remove it.
362  if [[ -d "${dlDir}" ]]; then
363    /bin/rm -rf "${dlDir}" &> /dev/null
364  fi
365}
366
367main(){
368
369  # declare local variables
370  applicationName='Slack'
371  local latestVersionUrl='https://slack.com/downloads/mac'
372  local latestDownloadUrl='https://slack.com/ssb/download-osx'
373  local applicationPath="/Applications/${applicationName}.app"
374  local installedVersion
375  local latestVersion
376
377  # ensure cleanup runs on exit or error.
378  trap cleanup EXIT ERR
379
380  # export global variables
381  export applicationName
382
383  # determine if the application needs to be updated.
384  installedVersion="$( get_installed_version "${applicationPath}" )" || exit 1
385  latestVersion="$( get_latest_version "${latestVersionUrl}" )" || exit 1
386  compare_versions "${latestVersion}" "${installedVersion}"
387
388  # download latest version of the application and export full path to the temporary download location for the cleanup function.
389  download "${latestDownloadUrl}"
390
391  # determine if application is running and notify customer before attempting kill.
392  detect_running
393  kill_running
394
395  # uninstall the application if neeeded for the update.
396  uninstall "${applicationPath}"
397
398  # install latest version of the application.
399  install
400  message 'Update Successful'
401  exit 0
402}
403main "$@"