DMG files

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bduenskie

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Hey Everyone,

I've been a PC user for the past 10 years, so pardon my stupid questions :)

One thing that's tricking me a bit is DMG files. Yes I know they're install files, but they seem to operate in different manners depending on the type of program you're installing.

Sometimes I'll open up a DMG file and I'll see a PKG file that can be used to install the program, which I get.

What I don't get though is when open a DMG file and there's no installer. I see I can double-click to run the program and an icon is created on the desktop (this happened with firefox). Do I need to leave this icon on my desktop all the time? Is there no installere with FireFox?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
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bduenskie said:
Hey Everyone,

I've been a PC user for the past 10 years, so pardon my stupid questions :)

One thing that's tricking me a bit is DMG files. Yes I know they're install files, but they seem to operate in different manners depending on the type of program you're installing.

Sometimes I'll open up a DMG file and I'll see a PKG file that can be used to install the program, which I get.

What I don't get though is when open a DMG file and there's no installer. I see I can double-click to run the program and an icon is created on the desktop (this happened with firefox). Do I need to leave this icon on my desktop all the time? Is there no installere with FireFox?

Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=262897&postcount=2
 
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just drag the app to your applications folder instead of double clicking it. then you can unmount and trash the dmg.
 
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bduenskie

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Thanks for the help guys! I thought I'd be able to pickup the switch from XP to OS X a little easier. It's more of a steep learning curve than I had anticipated. I think I need to retrain my brain to not think everything has to be complicated. :)
 
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bduenskie said:
One thing that's tricking me a bit is DMG files. Yes I know they're install files, but they seem to operate in different manners depending on the type of program you're installing.
Just to clarify, they are not necessarily install files.
A .dmg is only a disk image. You could theoretically put anything on that disk image, it doesn't have to be an application for installation. Yes, most of them contain an application, and it is a widely used method for getting applications transferred, but that is why they seem to operate in different manners.
 

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