**New, updated version! March 19, 2018 (see version history for details)**

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
- WhiteBox Packages
- Jamf Composer
Conclusion
Appendix
- Legacy Package Formats

1.7
March 19, 2018
- added a segment explaining the installation sequence for Distribution Packages
- updated instructions to obtain a signing identity for new Xcode and fixed an error in the description
- added the keyboard shortcut to show the menu bar during system installation and updated media for macOS High Sierra
- fixed a wrong path in some scripts
- updated About the Author page
- several typos and other errors (Thanks to all who contributed.)