Import software into Munki

This page shows you how to set up Russet to import software into a Munki repository, run Munki recipes, and rebuild Munki’s catalogs after an import.

Before you begin

• Use macOS or Linux. Russet reads packages and disk images with macOS tools on macOS and with built-in readers on Linux.
• Make sure that you have a file-based Munki repository with pkgs, pkgsinfo, and catalogs folders. If the repository is on a file share, mount the share first.
• Add the recipe repositories that contain your Munki recipes, and create overrides for them.

You don’t need to install the Munki tools on the computer that runs Russet. Russet generates pkginfo files natively, compatible with Munki

7.2.0.5787,

and never runs makepkginfo or munkiimport.

Set the Munki repository

Russet supports only Munki’s FileRepo backend, so the repository must be a local path or a file:// URL.

To set the repository for every run, run the following command:

defaults write com.github.russet MUNKI_REPO MUNKI_REPO_PATH

Replace MUNKI_REPO_PATH with the absolute path to the repository, such as /Users/Shared/munki_repo.

To use a different repository for one run, add -k MUNKI_REPO=MUNKI_REPO_PATH to russet run instead.

Caution

Don’t set MUNKI_REPO_PLUGIN to a backend other than FileRepo, and don’t set MUNKI_REPO to a URL other than a file:// URL. If you do, Russet rejects every recipe that you run, including recipes that don’t use Munki.

Choose catalogs

Munki recipes usually import new items into the testing catalog. To use another catalog for one recipe, set the catalogs key in the pkginfo dictionary of the recipe’s override. For details, see Create recipe overrides.

Recipes that use the MunkiSetDefaultCatalog processor read the default_catalog key from the com.googlecode.munki.munkiimport preference domain, which munkiimport --configure sets.

Import software

To run a Munki recipe and rebuild the catalogs, run the recipe and the MakeCatalogs.munki recipe in the same command:

russet run RECIPE MakeCatalogs.munki

Replace RECIPE with the name of your Munki recipe’s override, such as Firefox.munki. Create an override for MakeCatalogs.munki too, because it’s a recipe in the autopkg/recipes repository.

Russet imports the software and prints a summary like the following:

The following new items were imported into Munki:
    Name           Version  Catalogs  Pkginfo Path                    Pkg Repo Path
    ----           -------  --------  ------------                    -------------
    TheUnarchiver  4.3.9    testing   apps/TheUnarchiver-4.3.9.plist  apps/TheUnarchiver-4.3.9.dmg

For each import, Russet does the following:

• Copies the installer item to pkgs, in the subfolder that the recipe names.
• Writes a pkginfo file to the same subfolder of pkgsinfo.
• Skips the import if the repository’s all catalog already has a matching item. To import it anyway, set the force_munkiimport input variable.

Rebuild catalogs

The MakeCatalogs.munki recipe uses the MakeCatalogsProcessor processor, which Russet implements natively. It rebuilds the catalogs only when a recipe earlier in the same command imported something, so put it last in the command or recipe list. Otherwise, it prints No need to rebuild catalogs.

To rebuild the catalogs even when no recipe imported anything, add -k force_rebuild=1. Any non-empty value turns on a forced rebuild.

Use Munki recipes on Linux and Windows

On Linux, Russet reads packages and disk images itself, so recipes that import them into Munki work, including extract_icon. The installerChoices option still needs macOS. On Linux, icon PNG files aren’t byte-identical to the ones macOS writes, though the pixels match. On Windows, Russet can’t read packages or disk images, so those recipes fail. On every platform, processors that only edit pkginfo data, such as MunkiPkginfoMerger, and MakeCatalogsProcessor work.

What’s next

• Run recipes
• Schedule recipe runs
• Processors