In reading the man page for the updated installer utility in Leopard, it looks like it offers the equivalent of “answer files” on Windows. This sounds like a big improvement, especially for systems administrators who want to automate the installation of packages on Mac OS X.
The “install choice change XML file” can be used to apply changes to the default option in an installer package. This uses the -applyChoiceChangesXML flag.
The installer can also show the defaults as well as the result after applying a choice changes XML file to them. Use the -showChoicesXML to find the choices and -showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML to see the outcome of choice changes, respectively.
For what it’s worth, the -dominfo and -query flags are also new and have functions that I don’t recognize from Tiger, comparing the two man pages.
Anyway, the install choices sound like a “win” — even just to get reliable, reproducible Radmind transcripts, if you’re into that sort of thing. Imagine creating an installer choice change file for a package you install/update all the time — the system software itself, and the Apple Xcode Developer Tools, both spring to mind. Whether you’re creating install choice change files for bulk installation or just automation of your build process, it sounds as if this new capability should be really helpful.