Question about caching

[kMikaZu]

Hi

What is the ideal scenario for this script to use with Jamf and a cached installer? Right now, we use .pkg (downloaded with Download Full Installer) that caches the required full installer in the /Applications folder.

We then uses this command in a wrapped script:

/Library/Management/erase-install/erase-install.sh --power-wait-limit 180 --check-power --cleanup-after-use --current-user --reinstall --fs --version=$4 --min-drive-space 20 --fetch-full-installer

But there we get an error that the installer can't be found.

2023-09-13 12:00:02 | v30.1 | [run_fetch_full_installer] Found version 13.5
2023-09-13 12:00:02 | v30.1 | [run_fetch_full_installer] Running /usr/sbin/softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 13.5 
Scanning for 13.5 installer

Install failed with error: Update not available 
2023-09-13 12:00:11 | v30.1 | [run_fetch_full_installer] softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer failed. Try without --fetch-full-installer option.

Without the option fetch-full-installer activated, the script needs to download the installer. I suspect the option cleanup-after-use is the culprit here: In case of an incomplete install, it still executes the cleanup, hence the inability to find the installer with the next try.

The reason why the script fails in the first place, is this one:

2023-09-12 11:55:08 | v30.1 | [launch_startosinstall] /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --pidtosignal 2461 --agreetolicense --nointeraction --allowremoval --forcequitapps --stdinpass --user <user-currated> 
2023-09-12 11:55:08 | v30.1 | [launch_startosinstall] Launching startosinstall...
File Doesn't Exist, Will Create: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.github.grahampugh.erase-install.startosinstall.plist
2023-09-12 11:55:08 | v30.1 | [erase-install] Sending password to startosinstall
2023-09-12 12:55:08 | v30.1 | [erase-install] Timeout reached for PID 2672!
2023-09-12 12:55:08 | v30.1 | [erase-install] Reached end of script unexpectedly. This probably means startosinstall failed to complete within 60 minutes.

I wonder what the best strategy is here in order to provide a major cached update via Jamf, using this script.

[grahampugh]

Hi. To cache a specific installer use

erase-install.sh --version 13.5

This depends on whether 13.5 is still available in Apple's catalogs. If you just want to make sure you get the latest minor version of the current major version, use

erase-install.sh --os 13 --update

Both the above options will result in the installer application being placed in /Applications

If you want to instead hide a package for later installation, add the --pkg option. The InstallAssistant package is then cached in /Library/Management/erase-install

For actually installing the cached installer, in a separate policy, use

erase-install.sh --reinstall

If you cached a package instead of the app, use

erase-install.sh --reinstall --pkg --cleanup-after-use

You don't need to specify a version here, because you scope this policy based on computers that already have the installer cached. If there's a cached installer, erase-install will use it.

Everything else you added is optional. To understand what the other options actually do, see

erase-install.sh --help