Nuts and Bolts

Munki

  • Logic Pro Rename

    Posted on 1 min

    With the 11.1 update, Logic Pro has changed the app bundle from Logic Pro X.app to Logic Pro.app But wait! Didn’t this change happen a few updates back? Yes and no… The file sustem name was Logic Pro X.app but it displayed in Finder as Logic Pro.app If installing Logic Pro from the App Store, none of this is important as it is all seemless to the user. If like me you are managing this on managed endpoints, the path changing is important.
  • Getting Version Info for MATLAB

    Posted on 2 mins

    It can be challenging to get accurate version information for MATLAB on macOS. The installer is not a package, so no package receipts to rely on. The next place we might logically look for version info is in the app bundle itself. <key>CFBundleVersion</key> <string>24.2.0</string> Well that at least looks promising… This is an example from an installation of MATLAB 2024b. The 24.x indicates 2024 and the x.2 indicates b version. The problem with this is that the full version of that app is 24.
  • Deploying SPSS 27

    Posted on 1 min

    Good news! As of SPSS 27 IBM is finally shipping an Apple installer package for macOS instead of their Java based silent installer. Looking at the installer, it has a few minor issues but is for the most part sane. The package can be imported into Munki without much fuss. As in the past, activation will need to be scripted post install to license SPSS. The format of the path to the application has changed a bit, my postinstall script now looks like :
  • Enabling and Disabling SSH Using Munki

    Posted on 2 mins

    I recently needed to be able to test connectivity from client systems in a number of locations to some new infrastructure. Obviously being able to remotely login to these systems is a lot more efficient than traveling around to all the locations. We do not have SSH enabled by default on our managed macOS clients. I wanted to use Munki to enable SSH on select systems for testing, and then be able to disable it after testing was completed.
  • Deploying SPSS Statistics 24

    Posted on 2 mins

    I previously posted a method for scripting the activation of SPSS Statistics 23. My method has changed for version 24, so I thought it would be a good idea to write up my notes. First up, repackaging. Due to the SPSS silent installer being notoriously bad, I had already decided I would just repackage version 24 and use a postinstall script to activate. It really is the best way to ensure that it will deploy properly.
  • Renewing SPSS for Mac License Silently

    Posted on 3 mins

    It’s not hard to find discussions online about installing SPSS silently. I have a working install based on this discussion . I needed to re-license a number of machines with a new authorization code and had a bit of trouble, so I thought I’d write it up… I built a payload free package with The Luggage to distribute with Munki, and my first attempt at the postinstall script looked like this :