Generate beautiful DMG-images for your OS X applications.

npm install -g appdmg

appdmg <json-path> <dmg-path>

• json-path: Path to the JSON Specification file
• dmg-path: Path at which to place the final DMG

To produce a test DMG to your desktop, run the following command:

appdmg test/assets/appdmg.json ~/Desktop/test.dmg

The JSON input for the image follows a simple structure. All paths are relative to the JSON file's path.

{
  "title": "Test Application",
  "icon": "test-app.icns",
  "background": "test-background.png",
  "contents": [
    { "x": 448, "y": 344, "type": "link", "path": "/Applications" },
    { "x": 192, "y": 344, "type": "file", "path": "TestApp.app" }
  ]
}

• title (string, required) - The title of the produced DMG, which will be shown when mounted
• icon (string, optional) - Path to your icon, which will be shown when mounted
• background (string, optional) - Path to your background
• background-color (string, optional) - Background color (accepts css colors)
• icon-size (number, optional) - Size of all the icons inside the DMG
• window (object, optional) - Window options
  • position (object, optional) - Position when opened
    • x (number, required) - X position relative to left of the screen
    • y (number, required) - Y position relative to bottom of the screen
  • size (object, optional) - Window size
    • width (number, required) - Window width
    • height (number, required) - Window height
• format (enum[string], optional) - Disk image format
  • UDRW - UDIF read/write image
  • UDRO - UDIF read-only image
  • UDCO - UDIF ADC-compressed image
  • UDZO - UDIF zlib-compressed image
  • UDBZ - UDIF bzip2-compressed image (OS X 10.4+ only)
  • ULFO - UDIF lzfse-compressed image (OS X 10.11+ only)
• contents (array[object], required) - This is the contents of your DMG.
  • x (number, required) - X position relative to icon center
  • y (number, required) - Y position relative to icon center
  • type (enum[string], required)
    • link - Creates a link to the specified target
    • file - Adds a file to the DMG
    • position - Positions a present file
  • path (string, required) - Path to the file
  • name (string, optional) - Name of the file within the DMG
• code-sign (object, optional) - Options for codesigning the DMG
  • signing-identity (string, required) - The identity with which to sign the resulting DMG
  • identifier (string, optional) - Explicitly set the unique identifier string that is embedded in code signatures

0.1.x used a different JSON format. This format is still supported but deprecated, please update your json.

Finder can display retina backgrounds if packaged correctly into a .tiff file. appdmg will do this for you automatically if it can find a file with the same name as the background appended with @2x.

E.g. if the json contains "background": "TestBkg.png" then add a file with the name [email protected] into the same folder.

The application can also be called from within another javascript file, example:

const appdmg = require('appdmg');
const ee = appdmg({ source: 'test/appdmg.json', target: 'test.dmg' });

ee.on('progress', function (info) {

  // info.current is the current step
  // info.total is the total number of steps
  // info.type is on of 'step-begin', 'step-end'

  // 'step-begin'
  // info.title is the title of the current step

  // 'step-end'
  // info.status is one of 'ok', 'skip', 'fail'

});

ee.on('finish', function () {
  // There now is a `test.dmg` file
});

ee.on('error', function (err) {
  // An error occurred
});

You can also pass in the specification directly instead of reading it from a file. basepath should be a path which will be used to resolve other paths in the specification.

const ee = appdmg({
  target: 'test.dmg',
  basepath: __dirname,
  specification: {
    "title": "Test Title",
    // ...
  }
});

Currently the only supported os is Mac OS X.

Track the status of this here: LinusU#14

By default hidden files will show for users with com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles set to TRUE. This can be worked around by moving all hidden files outside the initial window size (using "type": "position"), this has the side-effect of enabling a scrollbar.

Files to usually move:

• .background
• .DS_Store
• .Trashes
• .VolumeIcon.icns

• create-dmg, a Bash script
• dmgbuild, a Python version