Looking for a way to make a DMG for my application that would show a license and then self-extract when downloaded with Safari, I came across this helpful Apple documentation page today. It describes how you can “Internet-enable” it and links to a tool for adding a license. The latter points to the somewhat cryptic “Software License Agreement for UDIFs software development kit” on Apple’s Development Tools page.
It turns out that that SDK is really just two files, and the download weighs in at 33kB. I may not be an experienced Apple developer, but the description is very cryptic; and no program on my machine can open the other included file.
It mentions the use of ResEdit, a program I have heard about but never actually seen. So I go hunting for it, and I find ResEdit 2.1.3. In an ancient .sea.bin file. After unpacking it, it turns out to be a “Classic” app, i.e., for Mac OS 9 or before. Further digging reveals that it was last updated in August 1994 - almost 15 years ago. And it’s an OS 8 program. Oh Es Eight.
Apple’s developer tools are generally pretty good, even though there are some exceptions (Jar Bundler, for example, is nothing to write home about). But finding documentation about a perfectly useful feature in 2009 that requires a tool that doesn’t even run on new hardware anymore (and only in the Classic sandbox on PowerPCs), is disappointing.
I eventually found DropDMG, which gets the job done for $20. It’s slightly odd in the way it works, but it works, and I don’t have to build a time machine to use it.
But this kind of basic tool should really be a part of Disk Utility or Xcode or something. Or Apple needs to just link to DropDMG, instead of sending people on a trip down memory lane to the mid-90s.
