Add examples for macOS-specific packaging of applications

[JimH44]

Hi Michael, I really like epm, and I have used it to make a Linux installer for the LangTran Update method for helping people working in language development in remote parts of the world. This installer provides entries in the menu system for running the update program and for tweaking how it behaves. (These come from .desktop files.)

The programs involved are shell scripts.

I have ported these scripts to Darwin and now have a Mac OS X version that works, and I would like to make an installer that provides icons for the user to click on to run the program and to control how it behaves. I noticed from issue 41 that epm now knows how to use pkgbuild, but I couldn't find anything in the epm Book about how to make the files that the installer should include.

Hoping you have time to add an example to the Book, for making an app to run on Mac OS X. I could share my scripts with you if that would help.
Thanks again, Jim

[michaelrsweet]

@JimH44 One of the issues is that macOS using application bundles (directoryname.app with standardized directories) and not the Linux .desktop files, so in general it isn't possible to simply install a file to get icons, you need to actually install an application... And application development is definitely outside the scope of EPM or the EPM book...

I'll keep this open as a potential future enhancement, however I am no longer actively developing EPM so I would rate the chances of this getting added as extremely low... Sorry...

[JimH44]

Thanks, Michael. for your response.
I was able to get epm to build a package for me, which installed the main script in
/Applications/LangTranUpdate.app/Contents/MacOS
and the other files in a folder within /Users/Shared. When I double-clicked the .app file, it ran successfully, but didn't display in any terminal window.
So I'll go back to including the main script in the same place as the other files, in the folder within /Users/Shared, and ask users to double-click the script there, so they can see the terminal window interaction.