Appendix: Installing Applications

With Mac OS X, Apple includes an Installer program, and many applications take advantage of it by distributing packages that Installer opens and distributes to the appropriate folders. Early releases of this Installer had some problems, the most serious of which was deleting folders when it removed old versions of a file before installing the new one. These issues have since been resolved in subsequent updates — another reason to use the Software Update pane of System Preferences periodically to make sure that your system software is up-to-date. Meanwhile, MindVision and Aladdin have carbonized their installers so that they run natively under Mac OS X.

First, one of the things you need to know about installing an application is that, if you want to install it in the Applications folder so that all users of your Mac can access it, you need to be logged in with an administrator account.

Using the Installer Utility

Unless Mac OS X was preinstalled on your Mac or somebody else installed Mac OS X for you, you have seen the Mac OS X Installer in action. Apple uses the Installer for installing Mac OS X, updating Mac OS X via the Software Update pane of System Preferences, and using applications.

The Installer utility is located in, ta-da, the Utilities folder of the Applications folder. The Installer’s documents are installer packages and generally have a .PKG extension on their file name and an icon similar to the one shown in Figure A-1. The Installer application’s icon is also seen in Figure A-1.

Figure A-1: The Installer (left) and a typical Installer package (right).

A typical installation follows these steps:

1. Double-click the Installer icon, and initiate the installation process.

2. The Installer will ask to run a program that verifies that it can run (shown in Figure A-2).

   
   Figure A-2: The Installer needs to run software to determine if the installation procedure can continue.

3. After the Installer has run its check, you see an Introduction screen, as shown in Figure A-3.

   
   Figure A-3: Greetings from the Installer. Click Continue to proceed.

4. Click the Continue button to proceed to the next step. The screen reveals important information (the Read Me document) about the software product and adds four buttons along the bottom of the window, as shown in Figure A-4.

   
   Figure A-4: Release notes provided by the software provider in the Read Me file.

   The Read Me document often includes directions on things you need to do or know before you install. You can print the Read Me file (click the Print button at the bottom), or save it to your disk (click the Save button) if you want to refer to it at a later time. The Go Back button allows you to retrace your steps, in case you want to change an earlier selection (although there isn’t much point in that, yet).

   Note

   On the left of the Installer window is a task bar listing the steps taken during the installation process. Although you cannot use it to navigate the installation process, it is a handy reference for where you are and which steps remain.

5. Click Continue. The software license agreement appears. In most cases (at least for software from Apple), you need to agree to the license before the installation takes place.

6. After reading the license agreement (and you’ll read every word, won’t you?), click Continue. The Install screen appears, asking you to agree or disagree to the terms of the license agreement, as shown in Figure A-5.

   
   Figure A-5: Agree to the license and proceed with the installation, or disagree and exit the Installer after it takes you back a step.

7. Click Agree to continue with the installation. If you do not agree with the license, click Disagree and you return to the previous screen. Usually, if you disagree with the license, you cannot install the software. Assuming that you agreed to the terms of the license agreement, you are asked to choose the volume on which you want the software installed. The available volumes appear in the destination window. (Because there is no more documentation, the Print and Save buttons have disappeared.)

8. Select the volume you want and click Continue.

   Near the bottom of the window, where the Print and Save buttons used to be, the Installer reveals how much disk space is required to do the installation after selecting the volume’s icon, as shown in Figure A-6. A fairly bare screen (shown in Figure A-7) appears. The Continue button has changed to the Install button. In some cases you will see a Customize button to the left of the Go Back and Install buttons; in this case there are no custom install options.

   
   Figure A-6: Select the destination of your software installation.

   
   Figure A-7: The point of no return — time to install.

9. Click Install. A progress bar appears in the right pane of the window. When the installation is complete, you are notified and you can quit from the Installer. Some installations, particularly many involving updates to the System, require you to restart. When that is the case, the Installer tells you that you need to restart (via a dialog) and restarts the Mac when you dismiss the dialog.