Hi HN! I've built this little macOS app to automate app installations from DMG files. Opening DMG files with Rapidmg is basically equivalent to:
1. Mount
2. Drag the app to the "Applications" folder
3. Unmount
4. Delete the dmg (optional)
5. Locate the app in "Applications"
Here are some technical details that make Rapidmg possible inside the macOS app sandbox:
- DMG files are containers of raw filesystem data, so you'll need userspace filesystem implementations to extract files from them. Thankfully, 7zip has both HFS and APFS implementated. Rapidmg makes use of that with some additional tweaks[0] about extended attributes (xattr).
- "Security-scoped bookmark"[1] is used to keep persistent access to "/Applications"
- If no app is detected in the DMG file, Rapidmg can extract all content to the same folder with the same basename as the dmg file, without the need to present the save panel. This is allowed by "Related Items"[2]
Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!
[0] https://github.com/branchseer/rapidmg_7z/tree/2301
[1] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/professional_video...
[2] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/app_sandb...
1. Mount 2. Drag the app to the "Applications" folder 3. Unmount 4. Delete the dmg (optional) 5. Locate the app in "Applications"
Here are some technical details that make Rapidmg possible inside the macOS app sandbox:
- DMG files are containers of raw filesystem data, so you'll need userspace filesystem implementations to extract files from them. Thankfully, 7zip has both HFS and APFS implementated. Rapidmg makes use of that with some additional tweaks[0] about extended attributes (xattr).
- "Security-scoped bookmark"[1] is used to keep persistent access to "/Applications"
- If no app is detected in the DMG file, Rapidmg can extract all content to the same folder with the same basename as the dmg file, without the need to present the save panel. This is allowed by "Related Items"[2]
Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!
[0] https://github.com/branchseer/rapidmg_7z/tree/2301
[1] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/professional_video...
[2] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/app_sandb...