If your AutoPkg setup is still copying the same license script into ten different recipe repos, you’re working too hard. Build autopkg-assets.pkg once, depend on it everywhere, and reclaim your automation sanity.
Assets/ scripts/ accept_zoom_license.sh configure_outlook_profile.py icons/ company_vpn.icns tools/ jq Once built, host the package on an internal web server or a Jamf distribution point. Then, in any AutoPkg recipe that needs those assets, add:
Think of it as the “toolkit” or “runtime” for your AutoPkg environment. autopkg-assets.pkg
<key>Requires</key> <array> <string>com.yourorg.autopkg-assets</string> </array> Imagine you maintain a GoogleChrome.pkg recipe. Chrome requires no license acceptance, but your organization demands a post‑install script that disables automatic updates and writes a custom brand plist.
pkgbuild --root ./Assets \ --identifier com.yourorg.autopkg-assets \ --version 1.2.0 \ --install-location /Library/AutoPkg/Assets \ autopkg-assets-1.2.0.pkg The Assets folder mirrors the final install location. For example: If your AutoPkg setup is still copying the
Here’s a draft feature article about autopkg-assets.pkg , written for a technical audience familiar with AutoPkg and macOS management. For years, AutoPkg has been the silent workhorse of macOS device management. It fetches, verifies, and repackages software, turning manual updates into automated workflows. But ask anyone who’s built a serious AutoPkg infrastructure, and they’ll eventually hit the same quiet frustration: where do you put the other files—the licensing scripts, custom icons, branding assets, or binary tools that make your packages deployment-ready?
Enter autopkg-assets.pkg , the unsung hero of the AutoPkg ecosystem. At its core, autopkg-assets.pkg isn’t a processor or a recipe. It’s a convention—a small, versioned macOS package that acts as a shared dependency for your AutoPkg recipes. It contains the non-software assets your recipes need to build a complete, production‑ready package. Then, in any AutoPkg recipe that needs those
Some community recipes already hint at this pattern—using a Requires on a “meta” package that provides common utilities. Formalizing it as autopkg-assets.pkg turns a clever hack into a maintainable architecture. AutoPkg handles the what (which software to get) and the how (processors to run). autopkg-assets.pkg handles the with what —the custom scripts, icons, and tools that make a generic download into a truly managed piece of software.
Without autopkg-assets.pkg , you’d have to fork the upstream recipe and embed your script—then rebase every time the parent recipe changes.