by Zach Schneirov
What is Installer Observer?
Installer Observer is a program designed to aid users
in determining exactly what an installer has done to
their system. One should use it to first Scan and
Save the Initial Conditions of folders within and/or
including their System folder. Then, after running
the installer, he or she should have Installer Observer
Load the saved system state and Examine the Changes
Made. Installer Observer will report new files/folders,
files/folders that have been removed, and files/folders
that have been changed. For more detailed information
on how to use Installer Observer, choose "About
Installer Observer..." from the Apple Menu.
How does Installer Observer work?
The idea behind Installer Observer is simple: See what
the system looks like before the installer is run,
then find out what the installer has done by comparing
the before and after states of the system. Thus, it
is imperative that you have Installer Observer scan
and save the initial conditions of your system before
you do ANYTHING with the installer. If Installer Observer
does not have a Saved System State file (that was made
before the installer was run) with which to compare
the current state of the system, it will not be able
to detect any changes made by the installer. To streamline
the detection of changes to the system, it is recommended
that you have Installer Observer make a new Saved System
State file before each installer that you run.
When examining folders, Installer Observer will look at each folder only long enough to determine if a change has occurred. If this is the case, it will then examine that folder in greater depth in order to determine exactly what changes have occurred in the folder and in which files they occurred in.
Installer Observer is completely free. You can use it whenever you want and give it to whomever you want, provided that this text file is included with it. If you wish to contact me, my email address is bakedscrod@usa.net.
You may download the most recent version of Installer Observer at http://home.earthlink.net/~z41/io.html
© 1999 Zachary Schneirov
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