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It more or less doesn't in MacOS, and has NEVER really been a thing. While there ARE some tools that require a more invasive "installation" process (e.g., VMWa
by ubermonkey 3y ago
It more or less doesn't in MacOS, and has NEVER really been a thing.
While there ARE some tools that require a more invasive "installation" process (e.g., VMWare Fusion), the overwhelming majority of Mac software is installed by just dragging the application bundle into /Applications.
(App bundles are just special directories, more or less, so you're moving more than just the file, but it presents as a single thing.)
To remove an app, you just drag that bundle into the trash.
This usually DOES leave behind things like local user data or preference files, but those are inert text files and don't impact perf or machine behavior in the long run. Users typically waste more space on cat pictures.
The tl;dr is that "installers" and "uninstallers" only exist because Windows needs them. I have seen MANY MANY FOLKS come to the Mac and be VERY confused by this. "But you NEED an installation process! This can't work!" Nope. Windows needs an installation process.
I joked, in the 90s, that despite all the monopolistic chicanery from Redmond, their real lasting awful legacy would be the degree to which they lowered people's expecations about how computers worked, and I stand by that.
(Something else not needed on sane systems: "clean up" software. If you don't litter the file system with files when you add a program, you don't need special utilities to run that shit down and delete it later.)
- gjsman-1000 3y agoAlso, heads up for anyone on MacOS, here's a fun experiment! Go to your Applications folder. Right-click any app. Click "Show Package Contents." Take a good look around.
- Tainnor 3y agoIt's a bit weird to act as if macOS didn't have installers and uninstallers. For one thing, there's the App store. And then, probably most developers use something like homebrew. What you describe works for a specific kind of app, the ones that can be easily sandboxed and don't have shared dependencies.
- catiopatio 3y agoThe App Store literally just places an application bundle in /Applications. Homebrew and MacPorts are used for Unix software that requires a Unix-style package management.
- r00fus 3y agoMost of my apps in my daily driver Mac were installed this way. Notable exceptions: Microsoft office, Google Drive.
- ubermonkey 3y agoSounds like you don't understand that Mac world very well. That's okay. D/ls from the store do what I describe above. The overwhelming majority of Mac apps going back to the pre-MacOS / OSX days work exactly as I described above.