InstallEase's wizard driven package creation utility for Mac OS X lets you create installer packages with minimal effort by walking you through the entire process. Its intuitive easy-to-use interface takes the confusion out of building custom software packages enabling you to spend your time on more critical management tasks.
The best part of InstallEase is that it's free! (download registration required)
After InstallEase completes its task, use LANrev Client Management Suite to deploy the custom PKG or DMG software package you just created. InstallEase lets you control which files to install while LANrev's many software installation options and conditions let you fine-tune precisely when the package should install.
InstallEase features
Automated "Before" and "After" Snapshots
InstallEase's automatic snapshot feature takes the guess work out of creating custom packages. Simply take a "before" and "after" snapshot of your system when installing your software and InstallEase will generate a list of file changes that are part of your installation. InstallEase even lets you pick which folders or drives to monitor for changes. On Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard the "after" snapshot is nearly instantaneous.
Build Packages Manually
While snapshots are great for more complicated software packages, sometimes it's just faster to build a package manually, particularly for drag and drop applications. InstallEase allows you to skip the snapshotting process altogether and drag and drop files/folders directly from the Finder into the InstallEase window.
Install Files to the Current User's Home Folder
When used in conjunction with LANrev's "Install when a user is logged in" installation option, InstallEase packages can install files to the current user's home folder. Items from the user's home folder will be listed under the path "Installation Root/Users/<Current User>" in the snapshot.
Exclusion Filters
An exhaustive list of preset filters is included to exclude extraneous file system changes that occur as a normal part of Mac OS X. These can be edited to suit your needs or you can add your own to screen out other file system changes you want to exclude.
Intuitive Graphical User Interface for Editing Changes
InstallEase's "Snapshot Data" screen provides a straightforward intuitive user interface for validating snapshot changes and editing user/group ownerships and permissions for snapshot changes. You have free reign to rearrange and remove items as desired with drag and drop. You can even add entries to the snapshot by seamlessly dragging and dropping directly from the Finder into the InstallEase window.
Uninstaller PKGs
For easier rollbacks of software installations, InstallEase can build an uninstaller PKG from an existing PKG. This ensures that only new files that were added are removed so you can be assured that no system critical files are accidentally deleted during the rollback. Uninstaller PKGs can also be based on snapshot data or manually specified filesystem entries.
Output to PKG, Iceberg Project, or DMG formats
Different installer formats have different advantages so InstallEase lets you choose the one that works best for you. DMGs are more convenient for simple drag and drop applications and can be modified later by converting the disk image to read/write format. PKGs are the easiest to roll back by creating an uninstaller PKG from the original installer PKG. Iceberg projects allow you to add pre and postflight scripts to the installer. If you can't decide which one fits your needs output the package in all these formats at the same time.
