[postal2mac] Installer

[Robert Uyeyama]

Regarding your <rant packagemaker> (snip) </rant>

I don't know much about the issue, do you mind clarifying?

A) you're referring to Packagemaker right?

B) what is your (and other game dev) opinion of Iceberg?
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/14516

C) So... Tiger's Packagemaker is basically done, and Apple refused to 
backport it.
Did they refuse publicly (URL please?), or have they simply 
individually ignored/declined all such requests by devs?


and re:
> if ever. If you want a standardized installer, consumers need to start
> telling Apple to stop fucking this up for everyone.

It's not much, but for publicity I might soon write up a news item at 
Macologist and submit it to MacBytes, where it may get picked up...  
therefore the more rant details, the better =)


--Robert/Santaduck



On Sep 19, 2004, at 9:23 AM, Ryan C. Gordon wrote:
> Forgive the upcoming rants:
>
> The problem is that there is no "standard" Mac installer, since the one
> that Apple ships is totally insufficient for lots of common 
> installation
> tasks...a problem they will largely remedy when they ship Tiger, but
> this presents a different problem...looking aside the fact that this
> installer is still 6+ months away, no one is going to require Tiger 
> just
> for the installer. Apple says they will definitely not backport the
> updated installer to Panther, Jaguar, etc...sadly, this basically
> prevents third-party developers from using their installer for 3+ 
> years,
> if ever. If you want a standardized installer, consumers need to start
> telling Apple to stop fucking this up for everyone.
>
> There is a lot that I don't like about loki_setup (which is what
> ut2004/postal use), but it's quickly becoming a popular utility for
> games, mostly because:
>
> 1) It's open source
> 2) It's free for commercial use.
> 3) It handles multiple CDs (apparently the only other installer that
> does costs like 8,000 dollars a year, and if you stop paying, you have
> to remove your product from the shelves. So I've been told. This is
> explicitly why MacSoft financed loki_setup for ut2003).
> 4) It allows CD key entry/validation in the installer.
> 5) It's relatively easy to use to create installers.
> 6) Big name games are using it, which tends to increase enthusiasm. I
> used it for UT2003, then Transgaming started using it for Indiana 
> Jones,
> Tron 2.0, etc, and now I'm getting email from other publishers asking
> about it. Everyone that's had to build a Mac installer has gotten 
> burned
> badly, so they're always on the lookout for better solutions.
>
> loki_setup has its problems, too, though:
> 1) It's ugly...
> 2) ...and so is its source code.  :/