Following a few betas to test the waters AutoDMG 1.3 is finally ready for release. For those of you that like building with the GUI the only new feature is that the 32 GB limit is gone as AutoDMG will now automatically create a larger image if you add large packages. The biggest news is for everyone who likes automation and reproducible workflows, since AutoDMG finally has a proper command-line interface. Not that everyone has been sitting idly by, we’ve recently seen the release of some nice solutions from the folks at Google and Adobe, and an interesting way of merging InstaDMG’s workflow with AutoDMG. My hope is that 1.3 will integrate much smoother in workflows that require building large images, or when you need to build a lot of images repeatedly. The documentation on how to throw away the training wheels is in the wiki:

• Command-Line Interface
• Templates

You can download 1.3 from the AutoDMG releases page. If you have any questions join us in ##osx-server (but please check the documentation and especially the FAQ first).

It seems appropriate to end with a screenshot:

$ cat 10.9.2.adtmpl
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>TemplateFormat</key>
    <string>1.0</string>
    <key>SourcePath</key>
    <string>~/Desktop/Install OS X Mavericks.app</string>
    <key>OutputPath</key>
    <string>~/Desktop/BaseImage-10.9.2-13C64.dmg</string>
    <key>VolumeName</key>
    <string>Macintosh HD</string>
    <key>ApplyUpdates</key>
    <true/>
    <key>AdditionalPackages</key>
    <array>
    </array>
    <key>IncludeTemplates</key>
    <array>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>
$ /Applications/AutoDMG.app/Contents/MacOS/AutoDMG -l autodmg-10.9.2-20140324.log -L 7 build 10.9.2.adtmpl
Installer: /Users/admin/Desktop/Install OS X Mavericks.app
Output Path: /Users/admin/Desktop/BaseImage-10.9.2-13C64.dmg
Volume Name: Macintosh HD
Accepted source /Users/admin/Desktop/Install OS X Mavericks.app: Mac OS X 10.9.2 13C64
Found installer: Mac OS X 10.9.2 13C64
Update: iBooks Update (14.6 MB)
Update: BookKit Update (78.5 kB)
Update: iTunes 11.1.5 (232.7 MB)
Password for admin: ********
Starting build
Using installer: Mac OS X 10.9.2 13C64
Using output path: /Users/admin/Desktop/BaseImage-10.9.2-13C64.dmg
Starting task with 1 phases
Starting phase: Preparing
phase: Preparing
Starting task with 7 phases
Starting phase: Starting install
phase: Starting install
Install task running
Script phase: sparseimage
Starting phase: Creating disk image
phase: Creating disk image
Script phase: install 0:/private/tmp/dmg.vXAs2G/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg
Starting phase: Installing OS
phase: Installing OS
Script phase: install 1:/Users/admin/Library/Application Support/AutoDMG/Updates/iBooksDelta.pkg
Starting phase: Installing iBooks Update
phase: Installing iBooks Update
Script phase: install 2:/Users/admin/Library/Application Support/AutoDMG/Updates/BookKitDelta.pkg
Starting phase: Installing BookKit Update
phase: Installing BookKit Update
Script phase: install 3:/private/tmp/dmg.XQKgax/Install iTunes.pkg
Starting phase: Installing iTunes 11.1.5
phase: Installing iTunes 11.1.5
Script phase: asr
Starting phase: Finalizing disk image
phase: Finalizing disk image
Starting task with 4 phases
Starting phase: Finalizing disk image
phase: Finalizing disk image
Finalize task running
Script phase: asr1
Starting phase: Finalizing disk image
phase: Finalizing disk image
Script phase: asr2
Starting phase: Finalizing disk image
phase: Finalizing disk image
Script phase: asr3
Starting phase: Finalizing disk image
phase: Finalizing disk image
Starting task with 1 phases
Starting phase: Finishing
phase: Finishing
Finish
Build finished successfully, image saved to /Users/admin/Desktop/BaseImage-10.9.2-13C64.dmg
Build successful