Remote disk image installation

With most of the software we work with, the only way to install it is by building it from source code. As everyone has at some point experienced, building from source can be difficult and frustrating.

Fortunately, some software comes as "Disk images" (you'll know because the files end in .dmg). These "disk images" are the classic, point and click kind of installers that do all the work for you. The only problem is it takes a few obscure commands to get them to work over command line, and it's not always possible/convenient to go sit down at the machine itself and install it from the GUI. Here's a step-by-step on how to install disk images over the command line.

NOTE: curly braces denote that you should input whatever is appropriate for you and should not actually be input. IE if I read

ls {myHomeDirectory}

I would actually type

ls /Users/oberman

1) Download the file and put it in your home directory (don't worry, we won't be installing it here.)

2) Mount the disk image. The command for this is:

hdiutil attach {filename.dmg}

3) cd to the /Volumes directory. You should see your disk image as one of the volumes (don't worry if it doesn't have the exact same name as the filename)

4) cd into your disk image's volume. Note that if the name contains spaces, using tab completion avoids having to monkey around with escape sequences.

5) You should see at least one file that ends with .pkg, .mpkg, or some variant. This is the file we actually want to install. To do so, we use the following command:

sudo installer -verbose -pkg {packageFile.pkg} -target {/install/location/} >& {/log/filename}

If you're unsure what to put for /install/location, a good bet is almost always /usr/local/. Note that most programs build into subdirectories of the target directory (IE /target/location/bin, /target/location/lib, etc...).

6) Check the logfile (whatever you set /log/filename to be) for any error messages.

7) If you don't find any error messages, cd back to /Volumes

8) Dismount the installation volume. The command for this is:

hdiutil detach {/VolumeName}

And you've successfully installed your program! You can now dispose of the original file you downloaded if you wish, but I find I like having them filed away in case I need to reinstall. Hopefully this saves some searching next time you need to install software!