Using AutoPkg

AutoPkg is a tool to help automating the download of new software packages - whether they be updates or full new installations. A large part of the Mac System Admin’s job is making sure that installed software is kept up to date - especially things like Flash.

So, AutoPkg is here to ensure you don’t have to go check a bunch of webpages for updates every time there might be an update available.

Here’s what you do:

1. Make sure you have git installed. This can be done with the Xcode CLI Tools, or else you can use the official git installer.

2. Install AutoPkg. It is distributed through .pkg installers for easy of use. It also installs a LaunchDaemon that allows you to use AutoPkg’s packaging capabilities without needing have root privileges.

3. Add some repos! If you go to https://github.com/autopkg you will see a good selection of autopkg recipe repositories ready for you to use. Install these by running autopkg repo-add https://github.com/autopkg/<repo>/git.

4. Once that finishes you can run autopkg list-recipes to see the recipes you have available. You will see a mix of .munki, .download, and .pkg extensions.

   1. .munki extension will automatically add the package it downloads to your munki repository and create a pkginfo file for it.
   2. .pkg downloads the software and packages it up nicely for you, if need be.
   3. .download just downloads the package from the internet. Some things don’t need to be repackaged or anything!

5. To run one of these recipes, use autopkg run <recipe name>

And that’s the basics!