INSTALLER(8) System Manager's Manual INSTALLER(8)

installer — system software and package installer tool.

installer [-dominfo] [-volinfo] [-pkginfo] [-showChoicesXML] [-showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML <pathToXMLFile>] [-applyChoiceChangesXML <pathToXMLFile>] [-query <flag>] [-allow] [-dumplog] [-help] [-verbose | -verboseR] [-vers] [-config] [-plist] [-file <pathToFile>] [-lang <ISOLanguageCode>] [-listiso] -pkg <pathToPackage> -target device

The installer command is used to install macOS installer packages to a specified domain or volume. The installer command installs a single package per invocation, which is specified with the -package parameter ( -pkg is accepted as a synonym). It may be either a single package or a metapackage. In the case of the metapackage, the packages which are part of the default install will be installed unless disqualified by a package's check tool(s).

The target volume is specified with the -target parameter ( -tgt is accepted as a synonym). It must already be mounted when the installer command is invoked.

The installer command requires root privileges to run. If a package requires authentication (set in a package's .info file) the installer must be either run as root or with the sudo(8) command (but see further discussion under the -store option).

The installer is not responsible for rebooting the machine after installing. Use reboot(8) or shutdown(8) -r now to reboot the system.

The installer displays two forms of output. The default terse output is intended for parsing by scripting languages for automating (or scripting) installs and verbose output providing additional information and descriptive error messages.

A list of flags and their descriptions:

Displays a list of domains into which the software package can be installed. For example: LocalSystem or CurrentUserHomeDirectory. The domains listed are those which are available and enabled when the command is run.
Displays a list of volumes onto which the software package can be installed. The volumes listed are the mounted volumes available when the command is run.
Displays a list of packages that can be installed onto the target volume. If a metapackage is given as the package source, all of its subpackages are listed.
flag
Queries a package for information about the metadata. See -help for supported flags.
Allow install of a package signed by an untrusted (or expired) certificate.
Detailed log information is always sent to syslog using the LOG_INSTALL facility (and will wind up in /var/log/install.log). -dumplog additionally writes this log to standard error output.
Displays the help screen describing the list of parameters.
Displays more descriptive information than the default output. Use this parameter in conjunction with -pkginfo and -volinfo information requests to see more readable output. The default output is formatted for scripting.
Displays same information as -verbose except the output is formatted for easy parsing.
Displays the version of this command.
Formats the command line installation arguments for later use. The output is sent to stdout, but can be redirected to a file to create a configuration file. When specifying this option, an installation is not actually performed. This configuration file can be supplied as the argument to the -file parameter instead of typing a long series of installation arguments. The config file can be used to perform multiple identical installs. You can create a config file as follows:

installer -pkg ~/Documents/Foo.pkg -target / -config > /tmp/configfile.plist

Formats the installer output into an XML file, which is sent by default to stdout. Use this parameter for -dominfo, -volinfo, and -pkginfo
pathToFile
Specifies the path to the XML file containing parameter information in the key/value dictionary. This file can be used instead of the command line parameters, and supersedes any parameters on the command line. When you type this parameter, you type the path to the XML file. Use with config file generated by -config For example:

installer -file /tmp/configfile.plist

ISOLanguageCode
Default language of installed system (ISO format). This is only necessary when performing a system (OS) install, otherwise is it ignored. There is no verification done to make sure that the language being set actually exists on the machine, however the ISO language code is verified to ensure that it is valid.
Display the list of valid ISO language codes the installer recognizes.
Prints to stdout the install choices for the package (specified with -pkg) in an XML format. This allows choice attributes to be modified and applied at install-time using -applyChoiceChangesXML. See CHOICE CHANGES FILE for details of this XML format.
pathToXMLFile
Applies the install choice changes specified in pathToXMLFile to the default choices in the package before installation. This allows the command-line installer to customize choice what gets installed. See CHOICE CHANGES FILE for details of this XML format. Any problems encountered while applying the choice changes will be reported to the LOG_INSTALL facility (i.e. to /var/log/install.log), and also to stdout if -dumplog is used.
pathToXMLFile
Applies the install choice changes specified in pathToXMLFile to the default choices in the package, and then dumps the resulting choice state to stdout. The input and output XML format is as described in CHOICE CHANGES FILE. Since changing one choice in a package can implicitly change other choices, this option allows you to confirm that a particular choiceChanges file will have the intended effect. You must specify a -target when using this option, since the evaluated choices can also change with the state of the target disk.
Prints to stdout the install choices for the package (specified with -pkg) in a hierarchical XML format. This is the same format as used with -applyChoiceChangesXML. This option is provided for System Image Utility only.
Install the product archive specified by -package, in the same way that it would be installed through the Mac App Store. In this mode, no other options are supported. (You can specify -target, but the only allowable value is the root volume mount point, /). For best Mac App Store fidelity, run installer as an admin user (not using sudo); you will prompted for your admin user's password before the install begins.

This mode is provided for testing a product archive before submission to the Mac App Store. See productbuild(1) for how to create a product archive.

A device parameter for the target is any one of the following:

1) Any of the values returned by -dominfo
2) The device node entry. Any entry of the form of /dev/disk*. ex: /dev/disk2
3) The disk identifier. Any entry of the form of disk*. ex: disk1s9
4) The volume mount point. Any entry of the form of /Volumes/Mountpoint. ex: /Volumes/Untitled
5) The volume UUID. ex: 376C4046-083E-334F-AF08-62FAFBC4E352

A “choiceChanges” file allows individual installer choices to be selected or deselected. A template choiceChanges file for a given package can be generated with the -showChoiceChangesXML option, and is interpreted as follows.

The choiceChanges file is a property list containing an array of dictionaries. Each dictionary has the following three keys:

Identifier for the choice to be modified (string)
One of the attribute names described below (string)
A setting that depends on the choiceAttribute, described below (number or string)

The choiceAttribute and attributeSetting values are as follows:

attributeSetting Description
(number) 1 to select the choice, 0 to deselect it
(number) 1 to enable the choice, 0 to disable it
(number) 1 to show the choice, 0 to hide it
(string) path at which to install the choice (see below)

Note that there can be multiple dictionaries for the same choiceIdentifier, since there can be multiple attributes set for a single choice.

The customLocation attribute can be set for a choice only if that choice explicitly allows a user-defined path. That is, if the choice would have a Location popup when viewed in the Customize pane of the Installer application, it can be set via customLocation. (Otherwise, installation paths cannot be arbitrarily modified, since the package author must account for custom install locations for the installation to work properly.)

installer -dominfo -pkg InstallMe.pkg

installer -volinfo -pkg InstallMe.pkg

installer -pkginfo -pkg DeveloperTools.mpkg

installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -target LocalSystem

installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -target / -lang en

installer -pkg DeveloperTools.mpkg -target /

installer -pkg InstallMe.pkg -target "/Volumes/Macintosh HD2"

installer -pkg InstallMe.pkg -file /tmp/InstallConfigFile

installer -pkg InstallMe.pkg -target /dev/disk0s5

Set when performing an installation using the installer command.

/usr/sbin/installer
Software package installer tool

syslog.conf(5) reboot(8) shutdown(8) softwareupdate(8) sudo(8) systemsetup(8)

The command line installer tool first appeared in the 10.2 release of Mac OS X.

April 19, 2007 macOS