The essential introduction for system administrators to using, analyzing and building installation package files (pkg) on macOS.

In this book you will learn:

- How to work with packages, analyze them without installing and install them from the command line and remotely
- How to inspect packages with the tools built into macOS and third party tools
- How to build your own packages, from simple packages to complex - How to use the tools for package creation and customization from macOS and some third-party tools

Working with installation packages is a fundamental skill for any system administrator. Package files are versatile and used in many ways, wether you use Jamf Pro (aka Casper), Munki, Filewave, LanRev, Apple Remote Desktop or a different management system.

This book will introduce you to the installation package file format (pkg). It will give you many examples on various techniques and strategies to build packages which will scale from small workgroups to large enterprise or school level deployments. 
It also discusses larger concepts such as testing, scripting and configuration management.

Table of Contents:

About this Book
Installation
- Installing Packages
- Inspecting Packages
- Inspector Applications
- Testing Package Installation
Building Packages
- Building
- Installation Scripts
- Signing Packages
- Payload-Free Packages
Re-Packaging
- Re-Packaging Applications
- Custom Installers
Configuration Files
- Challenges
- Configuration Profiles
- Other Settings Files
Distribution Packages
- What are Distribution Packages
- Installation Choices
- Building Distribution Packages
- Installer Interface
Packaging Strategies
- Application Installation
- Configuration Files
Other Package Builders
- munkipkg
- quickpkg
- WhiteBox Packages
- Jamf Composer
Conclusion
Appendix
- Legacy Package Formats

1.4 June 6, 2017 New appendix with a printable Command Reference List (also available for download in the resources) minor layout and design updates added screen shot for 'Show Files' in Installer.app added instructions for the productsign tool added section on Bundle Relocation added quickpkg to 'Other Package Builders' added Jamf Composer to 'Other Package Builders' 1.3 March 13, 2017 - New version history page - New cover - Added note on new options for Google Chrome First Run settings in 'Other Settings Files' section - Added links to new book "Property Lists, Preferences and Profiles for Apple Administrators" - Added a link to Twitter and the MacAdmin Slack forum profile in 'Feedback' - Added a link to the MacAdmin Slack profile on the Author page 1.2 February 25, 2017 - Eliminated some typos (Turns out 'wether' and 'whether' are two different words with different meanings… Who knew?) - Added a request to review the book in the iBooks Store in the Introduction and Conclusion 
(please, leave a review in the store!) - New appendix on legacy installer package file formats (bundle packages) 1.1 November 10, 2017 - Fixed placeholder text in the Glossary and 10.12 link to Mac Integration Basics 1.0 November 9, 2017 - First release