Pacifist is a shareware application that opens Mac OS X .pkg package files, .dmg disk images, and .zip, .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, and .xar archives and allows you to extract individual files and folders out of them. This is useful, for instance, if an application which is installed by the operating system becomes damaged and needs to be reinstalled without the hassle of reinstalling all of Mac OS X, or if you want to inspect a downloaded package to see what it will install before installing it. Pacifist is also able to verify existing installations and find missing or altered files*, and Pacifist can also examine the kernel extensions installed in your system to let you see what installer installed them, and whether the installer was made by Apple or a third-party.
Download BootCD for Mac - BootCD is a utility to make bootable OS X CD's with your choice of applications on them. The Macs that are Mac OS 9 bootable are outlined on the Mac OS X native software and hardware FAQ. Puma/Jaguar method Note these steps will construct a bootable CD only based on an existing boot CD and allow you to add software to that boot CD. If you know what files and folders are necessary to create a Mac OS X bootable CD, please post.
Pacifist is compatible with Mac OS X 10.9 or higher, including Mac OS X 10.15 “Catalina”. Pacifist requires a 64-bit Intel™ processor.
- Download the latest version of Pacifist in zip or disk image format.
- Read the release notes for Pacifist here.
- For users using versions of Mac OS X older than 10.8, download older versions of Pacifist here.
- See some screenshots of Pacifist in action!
- Pacifist is $20 shareware - you can click here to register now via FastSpring.
Pacifist has been well-reviewed in Mac publications over the years:
*This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
Odds and Ends
- Note - the following applications are all pre-release software, and should be considered sneak previews. If you download these applications, you agree to do so at your own risk as they may be buggy. I am not responsible for any damage that occurs as a result of using these applications.
TimeTracker
TimeTracker is a quick-and-dirty application that displays the contents of your Time Machine backups, and shows what's changed since the previous backup. TimeTracker is in an extremely early state, and is as such very unpolished.
- Download TimeTracker (prerelease), which works with 64-bit Intel Macs running OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite) or greater.
NibUnlocker
One of the fun things about the Mac going all the way back to the original was the way it stored user interface data for applications inside a separate stream called the “resource fork”, in a format readable by a tool named ResEdit. This allowed users to poke around inside applications and learn how their UIs ticked, and it was also helpful to developers, who could look at Apple's interfaces for examples when trying to figure out how to do something UI-related. In Mac OS X, this tradition continued, with ResEdit replaced by a tool named Interface Builder, and the resource fork replaced by a file called the “nib file” (with NIB standing for NeXTSTeP Interface Builder). Nib files contained even more information than the classic resource forks, and were of great interest to tinkerers and developers.
Until now, that is. In the last few years, Apple has been moving away from using nib files directly in projects. Instead, they have been encouraging the use of flat XML-based “xib” files which are converted to nib files on compiling the application. Since xib files are essentially flat, UTF-8 encoded text files, as opposed to nibs, which were bundled folders, xib files are much more SCM-friendly than nib files were. Unfortunately, however, the nib files to which they compile are not editable by Interface Builder, since they lack the class information that IB needs, and only include the raw data necessary for the application to reconstitute the objects. What's more, in Xcode 4, it is no longer possible to create nib files containing the tiny “classes.nib” and “info.nib” files that could make the file editable while consuming a negligable amount of space. Instead, the only way to make an editable nib is to make a copy of the entire xib file, and name it 'designable.nib'. Since a xib is essentially a less-compact representation of a nib file, this more than doubles the size of the nib, and is far less efficient than the old system was. Consequently, editable nibs are becoming rarer and rarer in the wild.
Enter NibUnlocker. NibUnlocker is an application that attempts to parse a non-editable nib file and output a xib file that Interface Builder or Xcode can edit. The resulting xib files do not contain all the information that was in the original xib file used to create the nib, however, so the xib file created by NibUnlocker will not be a complete replacement for the original. Although they should not be used in a project to compile a new nib file, as doing so may have unpredictable results, xib files made by NibUnlocker can be very useful for examining a nib file and seeing how it is constructed.
- Download NibUnlocker (pre-release), which should work with Mac OS X 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”) and up, although it has received very little testing.
CocoaTADS
CocoaTADS is a port of the HTML TADS interpreter to Mac OS X. HTML TADS is a multimedia interactive-fiction platform, allowing you to play text adventure games (many of which can be found here), sort of like the Infocom games from the 1980s, except that HTML TADS allows not only text but also graphics, sound, and even animation. You can find more information about HTML TADS here. CocoaTADS is currently extremely pre-beta, and there are no guarantees on how well it will work on your machine.
- Download CocoaTADS 0.3.4, which should hopefully work on Mac OS X 10.5 and up, running on G4 or better hardware. Unfortunately, I have currently only tested it on 10.6.x Intel.
Mac Os X Bootable Disk
OS9Experience
OS9Experience is a stupid little app that recreates certain behaviors that users of the classic Mac OS (meaning versions prior to 10.0) should be familiar with. If you feel a little nostalgic for the old days, this app may be just the thing for you! This app can be a fun addition to an unsuspecting co-worker’s Login Items. Now updated to work properly on multi-monitor setups, and available as a Universal Binary.
- Download OS9Experience, which should hopefully work on Mac OS X 10.4 and up (and possibly earlier versions as well - this has not been extensively tested).
Horrible Coding Hacks
Note: The following applications are obsolete and should be considered unsupported.
BootCD
BootCD is a Cocoa app that creates a disk image that can be used to burn a Mac OS X boot CD with a working Finder and Dock on it. This utility is unfinished and still has some flaws, but works. The current version works much better than previous versions, and includes the ability to run Drive10 and other utilities, although Norton does not yet work from the CD.
Note: BootCD is unsupported, and is not compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later. Please do not e-mail me asking me about a release date for the next version, as no new versions are planned.
- Download the latest version of BootCD, version 0.6.4.1, which works with Mac OS X 10.3.x (Panther).
- Download BootCD version 0.5.4 for Mac OS X 10.2.0 through 10.2.8 (Jaguar).
- Download BootCD version 0.3 for Mac OS X 10.1.5 and earlier.
DockDisks
Click Here to download DockDisks 1.0b5.2, an unsupported hack that makes disks appear in your Dock when you insert them, allowing you to reduce clutter on your Desktop.
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These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and others who are familiar with the command line. You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful when you want to install on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time.
What you need to create a bootable installer
- A USB flash drive or other secondary volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, with at least 14GB of available storage
- A downloaded installer for macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, or El Capitan
Download macOS
- Download: macOS Big Sur, macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, or macOS High Sierra
These download to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS [version name]. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server. - Download: OS X El Capitan
This downloads as a disk image named InstallMacOSX.dmg. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer.
Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal
- Connect the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer.
- Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- Type or paste one of the following commands in Terminal. These assume that the installer is in your Applications folder, and MyVolume is the name of the USB flash drive or other volume you're using. If it has a different name, replace
MyVolume
in these commands with the name of your volume.
Big Sur:*
Catalina:*
Mojave:*
High Sierra:*
El Capitan:
* If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, include the
--applicationpath
argument and installer path, similar to the way this is done in the command for El Capitan.After typing the command:
- Press Return to enter the command.
- When prompted, type your administrator password and press Return again. Terminal doesn't show any characters as you type your password.
- When prompted, type
Y
to confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal shows the progress as the volume is erased. - After the volume is erased, you may see an alert that Terminal would like to access files on a removable volume. Click OK to allow the copy to proceed.
- When Terminal says that it's done, the volume will have the same name as the installer you downloaded, such as Install macOS Big Sur. You can now quit Terminal and eject the volume.
Use the bootable installer
Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
Apple silicon
- Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
- Turn on your Mac and continue to hold the power button until you see the startup options window, which shows your bootable volumes.
- Select the volume containing the bootable installer, then click Continue.
- When the macOS installer opens, follow the onscreen instructions.
Intel processor
Download Bootable Mac Os Disk
- Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
- Press and hold the Option (Alt) ⌥ key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
- Release the Option key when you see a dark screen showing your bootable volumes.
- Select the volume containing the bootable installer. Then click the up arrow or press Return.
If you can't start up from the bootable installer, make sure that the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility is set to allow booting from external media. - Choose your language, if prompted.
- Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
Learn more
Mac Os Bootable Iso Download
A bootable installer doesn't download macOS from the internet, but it does require an internet connection to get firmware and other information specific to the Mac model.
Bootable Os X Disk
For information about the
createinstallmedia
command and the arguments you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal: