Using Composer to install software that requires restart.

[Damon_Byg]

Greetings,

I haven't found this answer on here so I figured that I would ask. I've been using Composer to package all of the software that our users use, but I've run into a small issue.

I have a piece of software, Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0, that is requiring a reboot after it finishes the install of the software.

How can I finish packaging this program using composer if the software requires a reboot during the installation? Or should I not package this software and any other software that requires a reboot to finish installing?

Thanks.

[Damon_Byg]

I guess I just answered my own issue. Composer picked up right where I left it after rebooting the computer. So I finished the install and configuration of the software and created the DMG files.

[jarednichols]

Yup. If you're using snapshots they survive reboot just fine.

[Damon_Byg]

Well it's still an issue. I looked at the .dmg file after I uploaded it and the application is missing entirely, it only has a .txt file in the folder.

If I look on the computer where I installed the application it has the application, and other files along with the .txt file that should be in the .dmg file.

[jarednichols]

Don't suppose you renamed the package somewhere along the way...

[Damon_Byg]

Not at all. I started composer got to the point where I needed to install and configure the software. Installed Lego Mindstorms and rebooted. Restarted composer, configured the application, and then said that I was done with the install. I looked at the .dmg file after I noticed the problem and noticed that there was only a .txt file in the folder.

[mm2270]

That's very odd. Did you use the Normal Snapshot or New & Modified Snapshot? I would try the latter in the event that you tried the first one. It takes longer, but sometimes "Normal" doesn't always catch items, especially if it was already installed on that box before.

[Damon_Byg]

I tried it again doing a normal snapshot, and it seems to look like everything is there now.

It's like the computer decided that it just didn't want to work this one time.

Very odd, though now I need to see why it thinks that something didn't install properly.

[Lincoln]

Glad you got it to work.

The following is probably obvious and we probably all do it but... one thing I always (well almost always) do when using snapshot the snapshot method, especially new & modified snaptshots, is to put a fresh unmanaged image on the machine I'm going to capture the install on. This way I minimise the chances of catching stuff I don't want.

Afterward I take a careful look through what has been captured and delete anything that doesn't relate to the install.

Lincoln

[John_Wetter]

One thing you might want to ask yourself (just to be sure) is "Do you want to grab the info that the reboot places?" I've seen in the past that installers that require a reboot take that opportunity to write a unique key used for something later, which you may not want to be a part of the package.

[luispalumbo]

I've just created a DMG file using the installation files from the CD and it worked.

Copy the whole installation CD to a folder on the Desktop. Delete all files in that folder except the LEGOMindstormsEngEdu.mpkg and the folders. Then go to Parts folder, delete all the packages that are not related to the English language, except the following packages: - legodriver.pkg - Mindstormsi386Edu.pkg - MindstormsPPCEdu.pkg - MindstormsUnivEdu.pkg

The Lego installation package will have just the necessary files to be installed.

In "Disk Utility" create a new image, 500MB, MAC OS Extended (Journaled) format, Hard disk partition, and sparse disk image. After the image is created open it and copy all the files and folders from that folder containing the installation packages.

Eject the image and rename it to .DMG instead of .sparseimage, otherwise Casper won't recognize that as a package, then upload it with Casper Admin.

It is working fine with Snow Leopard and with Lion, but there's something wrong with Mountain Lion.

Hope that helps you. Good luck.

[Sandy]

Hi,
I am trying to get NXT and WeDo installed to 10.7 and not having much luck. My issue seems to be that symbolic links do not get created correctly, when I tried both running the .pcks or making a flat .dmg of the installed files.

I understand what you've done here, but is it deploying to your targets with .pkgs inside of a .dmg? Do you have script to kick things off?