[Mac_Jack]

Hello,

Could someone please tell me the difference between a .pkg file and am .mpkg file?

When installing some software directly from the DVD, I see that some files are called, for example, iMovie.pkg, and others iMovie.mpkg. In what ways are they different?

Thanks,

Mac_Jack

[Millennium]

If I recall correctly, .mpkg folders are Meta-Packages. These contain regular packages, the .pkg folders you're seeing.

The reason for this is that you can't actually customize installations from a .pkg installer. This is a limitation of Apple's installer technology more than anything else. They get around it with these meta-packages, which contain packeges that you can turn on and off. It's a crude method of customizing installations, but it's gotten the job done for Apple so far.

[Mac_Jack]

Ah, gotcha. So if I wanted to do a basic install, I could use either the .mpkg or the .pkg, it wouldn't matter. If I wanted to customize at all, I'd use the .mpkg.

Thanks. You're everywhere; you answered my virus questions yesterday.

Jack

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Millennium

If I recall correctly, .mpkg folders are Meta-Packages. These contain regular packages, the .pkg folders you're seeing.

The reason for this is that you can't actually customize installations from a .pkg installer. This is a limitation of Apple's installer technology more than anything else. They get around it with these meta-packages, which contain packeges that you can turn on and off. It's a crude method of customizing installations, but it's gotten the job done for Apple so far.

Well, .mpkgs don't necessarily contain packages. They link to a bunch of packages, but they can be anywhere on the disk, as long as you can put a path to the packages in the Info.plist file in the .mpkg. Now, .mpkg packages can contain packages in their bundle, but they don't have to.

Also, as to not being able to customize installations from a .pkg installer, in Tiger the package format has a sort of interesting distribution script system that allows .pkgs to do many of the things that .mpkgs can do, so the line might become a little more blurred in the future...

[Mac_Jack]

Gotcha. Thanks very much for your help.