[comp.sys.mac.programmer] Writing Installer scripts

dent@unocss.UUCP (Dave Caplinger) (07/04/89)

Now that I've stumped everyone with "How to lock the ChooserName"... :-)

(Incidentally, from all of the responses I've gotten, there is no "clean"
way to do it.  One method that /works/ is to patch the Chooser so it
modifies a different 'STR ' resource number than the ChooserName is in,
but obviously, this is not ideal.  The closest answer to what I wanted was
the recently posted ASharePonder INIT, but even it is not quite correct.
ASharePonder will grab the username out of the AppleShare Prep file,
which means that I have to have the Macs set up for auto-mounting of
AppleShare on boot-up, which is not what I want to do.  So, there was
no real "satisfactory" answer.  As Tim Maroney has repeatedly pointed out
:-) changing the text box to "static text" or moving it out of the Chooser
window do /not/ work at all, and really make the user interface confusing!)

On to the next question:  Is there a program or a way to write Installer
scripts?  I would like to simplify the re-loading of Macs on AppleShare
(or whatever they end up on) by writing an Installer script to copy
the System folder.  Thus, Consultants on duty in the user rooms can just
boot from an Installer disk, (which I will have auto-login to the AppleShare
server) and click "Install" to re-load the Mac's bootup software from
the backup held on the server.  The whole point is that I will no longer
have to go do it any more. :-)

In addition to just copying files, I need to set the startup application, and
make the system folder invisible.  Also, one of the files copied into the
system folder has a different name depending on which Mac is being restored,
and that name needs to be changed back once installed...  All in all, a process
I would very much like to automate. :-)

I have looked at various Installer scripts that ResEdit 1.2b3 would
be nice enough to load (the System ones were "too big"), and I may be
able to hack at it a while to work up somehting, but surely there is a
program to do this for me, yes?  :-)

Also: Can an Installer script be set up to copy files/resources from a
disk /other/ than the boot disk?  (I.e., boot from one disk, and copy
files from the server to the local hard drive.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!  (And if I had the mac programming
experience, I would write the INIT myself that would load the ChooserName
with some predefined string... :-)

-/ Dave Caplinger /------------------+-----------------------------------
 Microcomputer Specialist            |  Internet: unocc07@zeus.unl.edu
 "Computing and Data Communications" |  UUCP:     uunet!btni!unocss!dent
 University of Nebraska at Omaha     |  Bitnet:   UNOCC07@UNOMA1
 Omaha, NE 68182                     |    or      dc3a+@andrew.cmu.edu

mystone@caen.engin.umich.edu (Dean Yu) (07/04/89)

In article <1028@unocss.UUCP> dent@unocss.UUCP (Dave Caplinger) writes:
>On to the next question:  Is there a program or a way to write Installer
>scripts?  I would like to simplify the re-loading of Macs on AppleShare
>(or whatever they end up on) by writing an Installer script to copy
>the System folder.  Thus, Consultants on duty in the user rooms can just
>boot from an Installer disk, (which I will have auto-login to the AppleShare
>server) and click "Install" to re-load the Mac's bootup software from
>the backup held on the server.  The whole point is that I will no longer
>have to go do it any more. :-)
>

  Take a look at Tech Note 75.  It goes into detail about the format of an
Installer script, and how to write your own.

>In addition to just copying files, I need to set the startup application, and
>make the system folder invisible.  Also, one of the files copied into the
>system folder has a different name depending on which Mac is being restored,
>and that name needs to be changed back once installed...  All in all, a process
>I would very much like to automate. :-)
>

  Your best bet would be to write an INIT that sets the Invisible bit on
the System Folder every time on the off chance someone re-visified it.  I
believe (don't quote me on this next bit) that the startup application for
Uni-Finder is still stored in the boot blocks, and under MultiFinder, it's
in the Finder Startup file.

>I have looked at various Installer scripts that ResEdit 1.2b3 would
>be nice enough to load (the System ones were "too big"), and I may be
>able to hack at it a while to work up somehting, but surely there is a
>program to do this for me, yes?  :-)
>

  Go with your first idea.  Take one of Apple's scripts, rip out the parts
you don't need, and add in new things you do need in ResEdit.

>Also: Can an Installer script be set up to copy files/resources from a
>disk /other/ than the boot disk?  (I.e., boot from one disk, and copy
>files from the server to the local hard drive.)
>

  Wait for Installer 3.0 (or whatever ships with System 7).  It should be
able to do all this and more.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Dean Yu                            | E-mail: mystone@{sol,caen}.engin.umich.edu
University of Michigan             | Real-mail: Dean Yu
Computer Aided Engineering Network |            909 Church St
                                   |            Apt C
===================================|            Ann Arbor, MI 48104
                                   | Phone: Given on a need to know basis, and
"I am the Merit Host.  I speak for |        only if you're going to offer me a
 the bitstream."  (In other words, |        job...
 these are my very own opinions;   | 
 my employer wants to have nothing |===========================================
 to do with them, or me.)          |       This space available for rent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------