This lets you create OS X dmg files.

This is normally used to create a dmg image that installs an application.

You can:

• include files
• include directories
• include symbolic links
• set the volume icon
• set the volume name
• set a background image
  • from a gimp xcf file (recommended)
  • from a png or jpeg file
• set the icon size
• set the window location

Its recommended to use gimp to create the background image and set the icon positions.

Unlike other approaches, this does not uses apple script to layout the icons on the Finder window. Instead it uses the excelent DSStore library (embeded inside).

Example

In this example we'll create a simple dmg image. It will contains an application that opens a web page.

These commands should be run on a OS X Terminal.

Lets go!

Start by getting make_dmg:

hg clone https://bitbucket.org/rgl/make_dmg
cd make_dmg

Get a sample background image:

curl -O http://cdn.bitbucket.org/rgl/make_dmg/downloads/background.png

Create a simple Application Bundle:

mkdir -p MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS
printf '#!/bin/sh\nopen https://bitbucket.org/rgl/make_dmg\n' > MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp
chmod +x MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp

Try it, it should open the web browser:

open MyApp.app

Finally, create the dmg image:

./make_dmg \
    -image background.png \
    -file 144,144 MyApp.app \
    -symlink 416,144 /Applications \
    -convert UDBZ \
    MyApp.dmg

NB those numbers, e.g. 144,144, are the coordinates for center of the corresponding file or symlink icon.

NB its recommended that you use gimp to layout the icons, see the gimp section bellow.

And try it out:

open MyApp.dmg

gimp

Instead of manually setting the icon positions on the command line, you should use gimp to create a xcf file. The file will contain the icon positions and the background image.

The creation of a dmg image is now much simplier:

./make_dmg \
    `./make_dmg_image_from_xcf example.xcf` \
    -convert UDBZ \
    MyApp.dmg

Have a look at the included example.xcf file.

gimp layers

Gimp layers are used to position the icons. The layer name is interpreted. If the name ends with:

• -hide

  the layer is hidden from the rendered output file.

• -file

  a make_dmg -file parameter is generated. for example, if the layer name is:

    MyApp.app -file
  

  the following make_dmg paramenters are generated:

    -file <layer_center_x_coordinate>,<layer_center_y_coordinate> MyApp.app
    -icon-size <layer_width>
  

  NB the -iconsize will be set to the layer width.

• -symlink

  same as -file argument described above, but with -symlink text.