Just over a year ago , I explain in a trace how to see what installers have installed . As explained in the steer , by using Terminal and thelsbomcommand , you could see exactly what bits got installed in which place — for any programme that ’s installed using Apple ’s Installer software .
But what if you need to see what an installer will install before you execute the installer ? One option is the $ 20 shareware progarmPacifist , which will not only let you glint inside installing computer software , but actually install only sealed piece of the parcel . you’re able to use it , for instance , to recover from that moment of stupidity when you deleted the Mail software . Using Pacifist (; August 2006 ) , you may reinstall just Mail , and not all of OS X as you ’d have to do using Apple ’s installer .
However , if you do n’t require all those features , here ’s a free , built - in method to see what an installer will be installing . This capability is in reality construct right into the OS X Installer software , though very few of the people I quizzed about this were aware of the feature of speech . When you set in motion a software system that use Apple ’s Installer , you ’ll ( most likely ) see a license screen appear first . Agree to the permit , then choose data file - > Show Files , or just press Command - I. When you do , a new windowpane will give , listing every Indian file that will be installed . Here ’s how that windowpane appear for the recent RAW update from Apple :
list in that windowpane is every single file that the RAW update will install . I like to use this tool when I ’m trying to set up some program that I guess should n’t need to practice Apple ’s Installer—“why is the simple arcade biz Pongo Bongo using Installer ? What is it writing to my disk , and where ? ” Using the Show Files bid , most of the meter I find out that the program really is n’t doing anything other than install itself in /Applications . But it ’s always squeamish to know before you say “ go . ”
you could also replicate and paste the text edition out of this windowpane into another program . You could , for representative , make a collecting of uninstall documents . Copy and paste the file list to a new text file , name it something like Uninstall – Pongo Bongo , and keep it and your other uninstall directions in one directory . If you ever determine you demand to remove a program , take a aspect at the uninstall document to see exactly which bits you ’ll require to delete . While not a replacement for a full robotic uninstaller , you ’ll be assured that you ’re find intimately every file the program installed .
I used “ nearly every single file ” in that last conviction because there is one class of files you wo n’t see in the Installer ’s filing cabinet lean : any single file created by scripts that feed during the instalment process . So if there ’s a plate script in the induction package that create , for instance , Pongo Bongo.cfg , then that file cabinet wo n’t be list in your uninstall leaning . There ’s not really a workaround for this , other than to use Spotlight to search based on the name of the practical software you ’re removing . File such as this , however , would typically consist of text edition - based file , so it ’s not a great concern .
