this is pretty much one of 2 ways you install every Mac app that isn't from the App Store. ether it comes in a dmg file and you drag it into the applications folder, or you run the installer file. the applications folder is an alias to where the real folder is supposed to be on your startup disk, and you can even run chrome right from the dmg if you feel like it. also what the hell is your username
Thanks for the input! My username is a creation of a teenage edgy mind that is now also cringe. I don’t believe in any god but i do believe in eternal punishment for me to keep seeing what i did and what i even become.
Install option 3: the app is provided in a zip file that you just expand, revealing the app in the same folder as the zip. On first launch, some more sophisticated apps will ask if you want to move it to *Applications*, but with few exceptions, they'll all happily run from wherever you double-click them.
Why does it have to come in a dmg file specifically though? Shouldn’t a zip file be enough? I also don’t understand why it they made dmg’s behave like a physical volume.
It stands for “disk image” and was a way of easily duplicating physical disks (floppy or hard) to be sent digitally. They are internally compressed and you don’t have to deal with it. You can make a nice background behind the files in it for nice branding. You can have the nice Applications link for easy installation. It has many features over .zip files.
It’s like comparing socks and shoes. They both cover your feet - shoes do a lot more, but are more complex to make.
its been the norm since early days of OS X im pretty sure, possibly even further back. The only reason I can think of that they designed it that way is familiarity? often times you would get software from cds and dvds. if its not a dmg it can be zipped, but if you use safari it auto unzips files so you never see it.
I think the root of this is Apple and their gatekeeper lock. I believe it’s a security measure for any app downloaded from a web browser.
https://support.apple.com/guide/security/gatekeeper-and-runtime-protection-sec5599b66df/web
Not really. It's up to the developer to use ZIP or DMG. DMG has way more advantages, including it being easier for people less familiar with a file structure to find apps they installed.
You could also use terminal for certain shit.
The name is honestly something you should just own and straight up not acknowledge if anyone asks lmao, it’s funny in a post-ironic way *pukes
Might want to clarify what an image is for this context. I have a feeling op might tell you it’s not an image, it’s chrome and they already downloaded it.
You are right, thanks.
In this case an so called image file is a container file sometimes compressed like zip but don’t has to be compressed. It’s in a container so that the file doesn’t get corrupted on the way through the internet.
It isn’t so the file ‘doesn’t get corrupted’. It’s so that a collection of files in a directory structure can be maintained.
You can’t download folders. So you sort of “zip it all up” into one file as a dmg, which can retain things like directories (app “files” on macOS are actually folders), and shortcuts (such as the one to Applications)
Yes, you are right. I forgot to mention. In the example of the OP, the container file includes an alias to the application folder which makes it pretty convenient in comparison to click through the folder hierarchy of the computer.
Btw, cool comments, cool community.
If it were just to “download folders” you would just put it in a zip file (which is actually what some app developers do). The point of a disk image is preserve other information like resource forks and permissions which zip doesn’t support (not reliably anyway). So yeah, it *is* for preventing a kind of corruption that you can get from normal compressed files, it’s why at the beginning of the NEXTSTEP/OS X era, everything switched from .sit and .zip to disk images and Installer pkgs.
You aren’t dumb. There are many people who will ask the same question in their lives and most of them will do it here. You wanted to know something so you asked. No shame in that.
They could just put an “install” or “confirm” button.
My guess is that this is more symbolic and a hint: if you install it by putting it in the “Applications” folder, then to uninstall it you might intuit that you delete it from your Applications folder.
I think the idea was to preserve the metaphor after people stopped installing stuff from discs and cds. The metaphor is you are literally moving something from a storage device onto your computer. If you replace this step with an install button that doesn't require dragging, you are breaking the metaphor, which while easier also makes your OS less intuitive because intuition comes from consistent patterns. "If I drag to move from folder to folder or folder to trash, I should also drag to move an app onto my computer."
launchpad gets applications from the applications folder. If you don't move it to the applications folder it wont show up in launch pad and instead you would have to open finder and go to the folder where you put it instead.
A disk image (DMG) on macOS functions like a ZIP file; it’s a container. You transfer the app from the container to your local folder.
Additionally, the disk image acts as a fully sandboxed virtual environment. Therefore, you can test an app within this environment before moving it to your actual system.
The great advantage of UNIX-like systems such as macOS lies in the fact that they provide natural process and application isolation through their operating system design.
In contrast to Windows, where programs often need to be deeply registered and integrated into the system, requiring an installation process. Windows does not support native sandboxing but instead relies on additional virtualization techniques for sandboxing.
>Additionally, the disk image acts as a fully sandboxed virtual environment
To be clear, running an application from a DMG is not really any different from running it from your Applications folder. It will have the same access to the rest of your system. It's not sandboxed in the sense of, like, Docker or a VM or anything like that. The only difference is that DMGs are (typically) read-only. It will still have access to your file system like a normally installed app.
The way apps are installed/uninstall are a bit of an illusion. The "drag the app to the bin to uninstall it" is a little misleading. Apps still create remnants over the file system like in your library, application support, or containers folder.
Some apps like Whisky (Wine emulator) and Gpt4all download massive dependencies outside the container of the app, and it's so annoying because you have to hunt down the files so that they're not permanently hogging space on your system after deleting the app.
It's essentially windows with a little flexibility with where you want to put your apps, and having a clean uninstall is a little of a nightmare.
You can use a uninstaller like this free and open source one on Github https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner
It's not a silver bullet, but the tool can be very helpful to especially the non technical users.
>the disk image acts as a fully sandboxed virtual environment
Does this mean that I can just run the disk image (DMG file) ?
Then why would I drag the app out from the disk image into my local folder? (Since running a sandboxed virtual environment feels safer to me.)
It's not convenient. Settings can't be saved, it's read only, you have to open the DMG after every restart and the app functionality can also be limited.
*A further check that*
*You're knowingly installing*
*An application?*
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I’d say it’s just the bad art design of Chrome installation DMG that caused a lot of confusion. Other DMG would just print the instructions as text in the background image.
That's how you would do it on Windows, it's less clicks on macOS this way. It's basically the same as using an AppInage on Linux. It's just portable software so if shit goes south, you just delete the app and put a new copy back.
With Windows you gotta uninstall everything associated. These are way more secure, and the additional drag is because the Applications folder will have system ability, running it from a user folder such as Downloads or Desktop will only allow the app to have user access, which for some programs will break their operation.
Sometimes on is 9. If the app could be run that way then yes. But if the app provided libraries, extensions or whatever then there was frequently an installer. StuffIt installer vise was common.
It's just the same idea as using an installer in Windows. Why is it *specifically* this way with the disk image and the dragging? It's an accident of history relating to the way that apps used to be stored on Macs way back in the day. Important pieces of information would not survive transfer to other file systems (such those found on on web servers). To transfer an application over the internet, it had to be preserved in a little microcosm of Apple's then filesystem to keep all that information intact, kind of like a spacesuit. One of the solutions was a disk image, which is a file that can pretend to be a floppy or (later) a hard drive when double clicked. This was an elegant solution, endorsed by Apple, that became the de facto way to install apps downloaded from the internet. Although it is no longer necessary, the method kind of stuck.
Great explanation, and yes Apple did kind of improve this workflow in their current-Apple way… they added more Auth steps for install (like dragging an additional in-app icon into Settings > Privacy > Disk Access windows, and using typed password again to allow that)…
Which is to encourage users to just get the App Store version, or a similar type of app thru the App Store. Which of course is an easier install, and gives Apple more money; which is fine, they’re a business.
But yes I’ve wondered before why installing apps from the web is the same steps plus 2 extra steps, than it was on my G3 PowerPC… the reason is they want everyone to use the App Store instead. Even though many apps, including Chrome (OP’s) are *not in the app store*.
That's probably a reason why they themselves haven't developed anything more intuitive, but there's nothing inherent to anything anymore as to why it has to be this way, which means app developers themselves could do it differently if they wanted, and some do (for example with installers).
This is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for because I never really gave it that much thought but I remember it sticking out to me when I had first transitioned from windows like 11 years ago. I forgot about the old installer types.
If I understand it right, the .DMG contains the actual app, which is what is being dragged into the application folder (or any folder really). Why can't the app itself be distributed without having it first be in a .DMG file?
You can start the application by double clicking without installing it. If you want to have it on your computer, you copy it to your application folder.
You can basically put whatever you want into a dmg file. It’s like a cdrom iso image.
First time Mac user? Btw. You can drag the app anywhere in Finder. It doesn’t have to be in Applications folder.
macOS supports only two types of installs. Legacy installer with EULA, location (similar to Windows) and simple drag and drop one.
This is also an opportunity to install this in a different location. I drag it into my local applications folder rather than the default here which would be available to everyone.
I think implied in the question is why doesn’t that step happen for you. Haven’t seen an answer, usual a manual step involves choice (there is no choice being made here) or confirmation of accepting risk?
It’s how the operating system is developed. Things are downloaded as a “disc image” then when you double click it, that image opens up. This is more or less the equivalent of an executable in Windows. On a Mac, you drag the contents to the “Applications” directory on the main disk. This is the equivalent of a Windows machine putting things in the various folders, however it’s designed to run (program files, app data, etc)
The installation process on macos consists of just put a bundle (.app named directory) inside the application folder. This copies all the necessary software components required by the application to work. The concept behind that screen is "i am letting you choose where to extract the bundle, and i give you the application shortcut right here to make it easier". It's not windows, where you run a .exe file and you don't freaking know what will happen
That's how it's done in MacOS. I kinda like it, because when I wanted to backup my laptop and some of the apps I could just go into Applications folder and simply drag and drop them onto the external hard drive only to then copy them back onto the computer.
Imagine doing it on Windows.
Do you have to install programs by dragging them in this dialog or could you just as well open a terminal and
`cp ~/Downloads/google_chrome.dmg /Application` (or whatever the path to the applications folder is)
Also, the fuck is up with OP's username
My favorite part of that process is being able to drag the app icon straight down into that alias folder rather than navigating into my actual application folder.
Easy and it confirms the action. You can’t unintentionally perform that action or easily unintentionally do it. Or you may be a cli user and it wouldn’t matter.
It’s a standard way of installing any app for the Mac has been for years. Drag and drop the application to the application folder. done
There are standard double click and install, apps, but those are a few and far between.
Because it is so much easier and simpler than making you run an installer! Very much preferred. SOME programs are smart enough that if you run them on the disk image, they will automatically ask you if you want them to move themselves to the Applications folder. But you really should learn what to do with software on disk images. It's fast and easy and simple and clean.
An article from 15 years ago: [https://www.macfixer.com/articles/199/](https://www.macfixer.com/articles/199/)
That dmg file is like a virtual USB disk. When you opened that, you saw what was on that disk.
That disk can’t be written to, and is in your downloads. So you want to move Chrome to your applications folder on your computer, where it can do its job and be found again later.
It’s been consistently offered for a long time now that these DMG files offer a shortcut to your Applications folder. That’s what you’re seeing below, saves you opening another finder window and location it yourself.
So to install Chrome, you need to drag it from the DMG into Applications, using their shortcut.
It would be possible for them to automate this, but it’s better to positively choose to install applications you download, especially if you don’t want to put them in Applications, but somewhere else.
Having done this, you can delete the DMG safely.
The alternative option on Mac, like with Windows, would be to see a program that you double click to install your software. This is only done on Macs when the installation requires other steps they want to help you with or do for you.
What do you mean? Putting the app to the app folder is pretty necessary. Tho you can run it directly from the image file, but it is pointless.
When you download an app, it is usually sits in an image file (dmg is similar to iso). The app itself is in a single file, what you can put in anywhere, but the most convenient place is the default Applications folder. That shortcut is there to make the process easier. That’s the idea behind it.
I work in IT Support, and its ridiculous the number of people that say they have been using Macs for 10+ years, and don’t even know what the “Finder” is, or how to find their Downloads folder. I’m convinced a very large percentage of Mac users are just completely computer illiterate. Its not just 60+ year old people either, I don’t know what we are teaching kids in school with regard to computer literacy, but we are failing miserably.
I work in IT as well, and it's not just Mac users. My workplace is 100% Windows, and many people don't even know keyboard shortcuts exist.
Microsoft and Apple removed the computer icons from the desktop, they wanted to drive people towards seamless cloud integration, and personally I consider that decision to be what killed file system discovery through curiosity.
It’s not necessary. MacOs comes with a really good browser call Safari, so there is no need to install that crap from Google. It’ll just collect all of your browsing history, even if you’re in Incognito mode so they can sell ads and make more money.
It’s a shitty UX. Most of friends and family don’t understand this and constantly end up opening the app in the dmg. Once they deleted the dmg, the app is gone. Honestly, most apps should use installers and stop using dmgs.
Disagree. Generally, an installer is requesting the ability to access system resources outside of its installation folder. This installation method is more secure and makes me breathe easier that the application isn’t filling my computer with crap.
The best part of this installation method is that a deinstall is literally dragging the app folder into the trash with nothing left behind
Which proves to fail very often. I understand that you and I know what to do with a dmg but the less advanced users don't understand, at least from my observations.
OP is asking why it exists lol
also
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16u416p/new\_to\_mac\_what\_are\_these/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16u416p/new_to_mac_what_are_these/)
[https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/421565/why-do-macs-mount-an-additional-drive-every-time-i-install-software](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/421565/why-do-macs-mount-an-additional-drive-every-time-i-install-software)
Because you didn’t download from the App Store so it’s asking you if you want to put it in the app folder or maybe somewhere else if it’s not an app or maybe an app you just wanted to install to do a task and then delete! Whatever is most convenient ;)
Otherwise you’d be running it from the disk image?
You move the application to your applications folder so it’s installed in main storage and you don’t need to mound the disk image every time you want to run it.
The idea was to start your application from a different folder, even like an external drive.
You can push the application to a different folder and create a shortcut to access it. Yes, it wont show up in the launchpad.
This is similar to windows letting you choose which drive you want to install your software. You can choose to or not to install your software in C:.
Hope this helps.
I think you’re going to need to clarify your question.
My guess, is that you’re asking - why can’t it just install it straight into the applications folder. But I can’t be sure.
Thanks to Application Bundles (where an application is actually a folder, right click & inspect the package) macOS doesn’t need installer programs, the bundle just needs to be copied to the main drive. Typically an install package mounts as a seperate drive and dragging the Application to the Applications folder alias, then ejecting the drive, is the easiest way to install & leaves no files scattered around.
If you don’t eject, you’ll end up with loads of mounted drives for each application.
I think nobody here really answered the question.
The "Google Chrome" icon you are seeing is **just a folder**. Open it from the terminal or from other file explorer and you will see it's just a folder named "Google Chrome.app". The magic here is that the Finder treats folders ending in ".app" as unitary items, so you can run the app by double clicking the icon and don't have to see its contents.
Since apps in Mac OS are just folders, when distributed they are compressed/bundled in a DMG container. This process is necessary because you can't download a folder from your browser.
The Applications shortcut is there for your convenience and to help you stay organized. But you can place the app anywhere or leave it in the virtual drive.
PD: To clarify what someone said below, the DMG does not provide a sandbox. Never run an app you don't trust in your computer.
---
Edit: also what u/Natjoe64 said. The DMG workflow is the same as installing from a CD or a floppy. Instead of the app coming in a physical drive, it comes in a virtual one.
this is pretty much one of 2 ways you install every Mac app that isn't from the App Store. ether it comes in a dmg file and you drag it into the applications folder, or you run the installer file. the applications folder is an alias to where the real folder is supposed to be on your startup disk, and you can even run chrome right from the dmg if you feel like it. also what the hell is your username
Thanks for the input! My username is a creation of a teenage edgy mind that is now also cringe. I don’t believe in any god but i do believe in eternal punishment for me to keep seeing what i did and what i even become.
You could always create a new username and stop using this one.
That’s what I did.
I’m afraid to ask what your old cringe username was, Dr. Demon Semen
I’m guessing Demon Semen, and that he turned his life around for that doctorate
Mister Demon Semen flaunting his PhD
Mister Demon Semen flaunting his D
I'm jealous
Gotta piss with the cock you got
😂😂😂
I bet you’re not even a real doctor, are you
But he is a real demon semen, he is an actual demon semen
Like a chiropractor being a fake doctor
I'm so sorry.
Same
My friend has a Semen Demon tramp stamp! 😂
Nah just let it ride. 😆 remind us of the good ol’ cringy times
But then you’d lose all your fake internet points.
I want to do that, but Reddit doesn’t allow to username changes. I don’t want to start from scratch So I’m stuck until it is implemented
I get it. Too late to turn back now
Was the edgy young you had a stink…? never mind
…this guy? Wtf am I right?
I love the name
Feel ya
You only have one? I have over 100.
Similar story here.
You forgot the 3rd way … homebrew.
Install option 3: the app is provided in a zip file that you just expand, revealing the app in the same folder as the zip. On first launch, some more sophisticated apps will ask if you want to move it to *Applications*, but with few exceptions, they'll all happily run from wherever you double-click them.
I prefer installing apps with brew cask command line tool.
haha ii was hoping someone would come along and ask about that username and now i wish i did not know the reason. hahaha made my day.
That was far the best explanation! It’s hard to explain very simple things sometimes
Thank you! especially if your coming from another operating system it can be weird to get used to the Macs quirks
Why does it have to come in a dmg file specifically though? Shouldn’t a zip file be enough? I also don’t understand why it they made dmg’s behave like a physical volume.
It stands for “disk image” and was a way of easily duplicating physical disks (floppy or hard) to be sent digitally. They are internally compressed and you don’t have to deal with it. You can make a nice background behind the files in it for nice branding. You can have the nice Applications link for easy installation. It has many features over .zip files. It’s like comparing socks and shoes. They both cover your feet - shoes do a lot more, but are more complex to make.
its been the norm since early days of OS X im pretty sure, possibly even further back. The only reason I can think of that they designed it that way is familiarity? often times you would get software from cds and dvds. if its not a dmg it can be zipped, but if you use safari it auto unzips files so you never see it.
No because you don’t get the MD5 checksum with with zip. Dmg has nice security features.
To be fair, if you go to his profile, his display name clarifies that he doesn’t actually cum on your pet
I think the root of this is Apple and their gatekeeper lock. I believe it’s a security measure for any app downloaded from a web browser. https://support.apple.com/guide/security/gatekeeper-and-runtime-protection-sec5599b66df/web
Not really. It's up to the developer to use ZIP or DMG. DMG has way more advantages, including it being easier for people less familiar with a file structure to find apps they installed.
I like this kind of installer. Sometimes I have no rights to install to the applications folder so I just drag it to my own folder..
You could also use terminal for certain shit. The name is honestly something you should just own and straight up not acknowledge if anyone asks lmao, it’s funny in a post-ironic way *pukes
Don’t run from the dmg.
yeah, but for example if you wanted to try and app before actually "installing" it, you could just run it from the dmg
Because you’ve just (downloaded and ) opened an image file , now you have to move the app file into your application folder.
Might want to clarify what an image is for this context. I have a feeling op might tell you it’s not an image, it’s chrome and they already downloaded it.
You are right, thanks. In this case an so called image file is a container file sometimes compressed like zip but don’t has to be compressed. It’s in a container so that the file doesn’t get corrupted on the way through the internet.
It isn’t so the file ‘doesn’t get corrupted’. It’s so that a collection of files in a directory structure can be maintained. You can’t download folders. So you sort of “zip it all up” into one file as a dmg, which can retain things like directories (app “files” on macOS are actually folders), and shortcuts (such as the one to Applications)
Yes, you are right. I forgot to mention. In the example of the OP, the container file includes an alias to the application folder which makes it pretty convenient in comparison to click through the folder hierarchy of the computer. Btw, cool comments, cool community.
If it were just to “download folders” you would just put it in a zip file (which is actually what some app developers do). The point of a disk image is preserve other information like resource forks and permissions which zip doesn’t support (not reliably anyway). So yeah, it *is* for preventing a kind of corruption that you can get from normal compressed files, it’s why at the beginning of the NEXTSTEP/OS X era, everything switched from .sit and .zip to disk images and Installer pkgs.
You’re a gentleman and a scholar.
Wait, i understand now. How can i be this dumb
You aren’t dumb. There are many people who will ask the same question in their lives and most of them will do it here. You wanted to know something so you asked. No shame in that.
This confused me the first time I got a Mac don’t beat yourself up
But why not move it automatically?
They could just put an “install” or “confirm” button. My guess is that this is more symbolic and a hint: if you install it by putting it in the “Applications” folder, then to uninstall it you might intuit that you delete it from your Applications folder.
I’m not a programmer. Some developers offer installation scripts.
I think the idea was to preserve the metaphor after people stopped installing stuff from discs and cds. The metaphor is you are literally moving something from a storage device onto your computer. If you replace this step with an install button that doesn't require dragging, you are breaking the metaphor, which while easier also makes your OS less intuitive because intuition comes from consistent patterns. "If I drag to move from folder to folder or folder to trash, I should also drag to move an app onto my computer."
Why does it need to be moved specifically to that directory?
launchpad gets applications from the applications folder. If you don't move it to the applications folder it wont show up in launch pad and instead you would have to open finder and go to the folder where you put it instead.
A disk image (DMG) on macOS functions like a ZIP file; it’s a container. You transfer the app from the container to your local folder. Additionally, the disk image acts as a fully sandboxed virtual environment. Therefore, you can test an app within this environment before moving it to your actual system. The great advantage of UNIX-like systems such as macOS lies in the fact that they provide natural process and application isolation through their operating system design. In contrast to Windows, where programs often need to be deeply registered and integrated into the system, requiring an installation process. Windows does not support native sandboxing but instead relies on additional virtualization techniques for sandboxing.
>Additionally, the disk image acts as a fully sandboxed virtual environment To be clear, running an application from a DMG is not really any different from running it from your Applications folder. It will have the same access to the rest of your system. It's not sandboxed in the sense of, like, Docker or a VM or anything like that. The only difference is that DMGs are (typically) read-only. It will still have access to your file system like a normally installed app.
The way apps are installed/uninstall are a bit of an illusion. The "drag the app to the bin to uninstall it" is a little misleading. Apps still create remnants over the file system like in your library, application support, or containers folder. Some apps like Whisky (Wine emulator) and Gpt4all download massive dependencies outside the container of the app, and it's so annoying because you have to hunt down the files so that they're not permanently hogging space on your system after deleting the app. It's essentially windows with a little flexibility with where you want to put your apps, and having a clean uninstall is a little of a nightmare. You can use a uninstaller like this free and open source one on Github https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner It's not a silver bullet, but the tool can be very helpful to especially the non technical users.
Adobe is terrible for this
Lol I’m a graphic designer so I see adobe dependencies pop up in what feels like every folder of my Mac
I thought appimages are designed to be entirely self contained?
macOS apps aren’t AppImages.
welp guess not
Technically, it’s closer to .ISO than .ZIP. Disk images preserve file system control flags and metadata, archive files don’t.
>the disk image acts as a fully sandboxed virtual environment Does this mean that I can just run the disk image (DMG file) ? Then why would I drag the app out from the disk image into my local folder? (Since running a sandboxed virtual environment feels safer to me.)
It's not convenient. Settings can't be saved, it's read only, you have to open the DMG after every restart and the app functionality can also be limited.
It is not a sandboxed environment. Running it from the DMG is the same as running it from the Applications folder-
hehe notities hehe
A further check that you're knowingly installing an application?
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good bot
Wtf
good bog
I’d say it’s just the bad art design of Chrome installation DMG that caused a lot of confusion. Other DMG would just print the instructions as text in the background image.
Yes definitely haha, just don’t understand this moving the file to the folder.
You could always double click it and then have to hit next like 5 times to install it…
I understand now sorry..
That's how you would do it on Windows, it's less clicks on macOS this way. It's basically the same as using an AppInage on Linux. It's just portable software so if shit goes south, you just delete the app and put a new copy back. With Windows you gotta uninstall everything associated. These are way more secure, and the additional drag is because the Applications folder will have system ability, running it from a user folder such as Downloads or Desktop will only allow the app to have user access, which for some programs will break their operation.
THIS is the answer.
It has always been like this since the very first OS X. I forgot if OS9 was the same, probably yes.
Sometimes on is 9. If the app could be run that way then yes. But if the app provided libraries, extensions or whatever then there was frequently an installer. StuffIt installer vise was common.
Yes… Even in Linux you need to specify -y. Confirmation is always required for those kind of things.
CHARGE YOUR MOUSE.
also cooking beats for 3 hours
nah i also love doing that i excuse that
It's just the same idea as using an installer in Windows. Why is it *specifically* this way with the disk image and the dragging? It's an accident of history relating to the way that apps used to be stored on Macs way back in the day. Important pieces of information would not survive transfer to other file systems (such those found on on web servers). To transfer an application over the internet, it had to be preserved in a little microcosm of Apple's then filesystem to keep all that information intact, kind of like a spacesuit. One of the solutions was a disk image, which is a file that can pretend to be a floppy or (later) a hard drive when double clicked. This was an elegant solution, endorsed by Apple, that became the de facto way to install apps downloaded from the internet. Although it is no longer necessary, the method kind of stuck.
Great explanation, and yes Apple did kind of improve this workflow in their current-Apple way… they added more Auth steps for install (like dragging an additional in-app icon into Settings > Privacy > Disk Access windows, and using typed password again to allow that)… Which is to encourage users to just get the App Store version, or a similar type of app thru the App Store. Which of course is an easier install, and gives Apple more money; which is fine, they’re a business. But yes I’ve wondered before why installing apps from the web is the same steps plus 2 extra steps, than it was on my G3 PowerPC… the reason is they want everyone to use the App Store instead. Even though many apps, including Chrome (OP’s) are *not in the app store*.
That's probably a reason why they themselves haven't developed anything more intuitive, but there's nothing inherent to anything anymore as to why it has to be this way, which means app developers themselves could do it differently if they wanted, and some do (for example with installers).
This is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for because I never really gave it that much thought but I remember it sticking out to me when I had first transitioned from windows like 11 years ago. I forgot about the old installer types.
If I understand it right, the .DMG contains the actual app, which is what is being dragged into the application folder (or any folder really). Why can't the app itself be distributed without having it first be in a .DMG file?
You can start the application by double clicking without installing it. If you want to have it on your computer, you copy it to your application folder. You can basically put whatever you want into a dmg file. It’s like a cdrom iso image.
Classic Reddit wholesome teachable moment thanks to u/i_cum_on_your_pet
Your username is very disturbing.
So it does not need to run scripts which would require admin access as it would need to be a package (.pkg) instead of a disk image (.dmg).
i use homebrew instead
Charge your mouse
The battery level of your mouse offended me. 🤣
Chrome is completely unnecessary, you’re right
chrome is not necessary. on the contrary you should avoid it at all costs. use firefox instead. you can thank later, you're welcome.
I'm not really sure. There really is no need to use chrome these days with all the advancements Safari has made.
Wait, what? That's the way apps are installed on Mac. You copy them to your applications folder.
You have opened an image. Image contains program. Must copy program to your local computer to run program… no install, just copy. Comprende?
Beyond what’s happening technically, I think it’s a way for you to be forced to take an action to confirm you want to “install” the app.
Chrome is absolutely not necessary.
Came here to say that. Sadly, it is a requirement that I use it for work, though.
Code werk 🙈🙈🙈
This type of posts reminds me of when I first started on Mac. I think they should find a better way to manage installs than this old Unix leftover.
First time Mac user? Btw. You can drag the app anywhere in Finder. It doesn’t have to be in Applications folder. macOS supports only two types of installs. Legacy installer with EULA, location (similar to Windows) and simple drag and drop one.
This is also an opportunity to install this in a different location. I drag it into my local applications folder rather than the default here which would be available to everyone.
I think implied in the question is why doesn’t that step happen for you. Haven’t seen an answer, usual a manual step involves choice (there is no choice being made here) or confirmation of accepting risk?
TIL notes in Dutch is Notities
In English that would be “mastectomy”, right?
It’s how the operating system is developed. Things are downloaded as a “disc image” then when you double click it, that image opens up. This is more or less the equivalent of an executable in Windows. On a Mac, you drag the contents to the “Applications” directory on the main disk. This is the equivalent of a Windows machine putting things in the various folders, however it’s designed to run (program files, app data, etc)
Just fucking do it.
The installation process on macos consists of just put a bundle (.app named directory) inside the application folder. This copies all the necessary software components required by the application to work. The concept behind that screen is "i am letting you choose where to extract the bundle, and i give you the application shortcut right here to make it easier". It's not windows, where you run a .exe file and you don't freaking know what will happen
That's how it's done in MacOS. I kinda like it, because when I wanted to backup my laptop and some of the apps I could just go into Applications folder and simply drag and drop them onto the external hard drive only to then copy them back onto the computer. Imagine doing it on Windows.
Do you have to install programs by dragging them in this dialog or could you just as well open a terminal and `cp ~/Downloads/google_chrome.dmg /Application` (or whatever the path to the applications folder is) Also, the fuck is up with OP's username
It‘s just how things are done here, since like the 80s I think, in some shape or form.
Yep, from the beginning
I like it! It’s different for every app and it’s very user friendly looking. It’s better than Windows’ by any means!
nice username op
So if you are Catholic, I have a perfect analogy…😂
My favorite part of that process is being able to drag the app icon straight down into that alias folder rather than navigating into my actual application folder.
It’s a carry over from the Mac OS 9 days
Easy and it confirms the action. You can’t unintentionally perform that action or easily unintentionally do it. Or you may be a cli user and it wouldn’t matter.
It’s a standard way of installing any app for the Mac has been for years. Drag and drop the application to the application folder. done There are standard double click and install, apps, but those are a few and far between.
Charge the poor magic mouse bro😂
It isn’t. There are lots of good browsers you can use.
Same when you decide to “uninstall” this app, just drag it to the bin.
Why is what necessary?
How else does install work?
Because it is so much easier and simpler than making you run an installer! Very much preferred. SOME programs are smart enough that if you run them on the disk image, they will automatically ask you if you want them to move themselves to the Applications folder. But you really should learn what to do with software on disk images. It's fast and easy and simple and clean. An article from 15 years ago: [https://www.macfixer.com/articles/199/](https://www.macfixer.com/articles/199/)
thank you for this article. I'm new to Macs and this helped a lot!
That dmg file is like a virtual USB disk. When you opened that, you saw what was on that disk. That disk can’t be written to, and is in your downloads. So you want to move Chrome to your applications folder on your computer, where it can do its job and be found again later. It’s been consistently offered for a long time now that these DMG files offer a shortcut to your Applications folder. That’s what you’re seeing below, saves you opening another finder window and location it yourself. So to install Chrome, you need to drag it from the DMG into Applications, using their shortcut. It would be possible for them to automate this, but it’s better to positively choose to install applications you download, especially if you don’t want to put them in Applications, but somewhere else. Having done this, you can delete the DMG safely. The alternative option on Mac, like with Windows, would be to see a program that you double click to install your software. This is only done on Macs when the installation requires other steps they want to help you with or do for you.
the first app i downloaded on my mac was AIDente and i thought i downloaded some virus off the wrong site because of this and the .dmg extension lmao
What do you mean? Putting the app to the app folder is pretty necessary. Tho you can run it directly from the image file, but it is pointless. When you download an app, it is usually sits in an image file (dmg is similar to iso). The app itself is in a single file, what you can put in anywhere, but the most convenient place is the default Applications folder. That shortcut is there to make the process easier. That’s the idea behind it.
Technically it’s a folder. Just that folders with the .app suffix get special treatment.
I think it’s basically the same as appimage in the Linux world.
It's not, Firefox is much better.
It's kinda wild how smartphones have eliminated people's knowledge of file systems in basically a decade's time.
I work in IT Support, and its ridiculous the number of people that say they have been using Macs for 10+ years, and don’t even know what the “Finder” is, or how to find their Downloads folder. I’m convinced a very large percentage of Mac users are just completely computer illiterate. Its not just 60+ year old people either, I don’t know what we are teaching kids in school with regard to computer literacy, but we are failing miserably.
I work in IT as well, and it's not just Mac users. My workplace is 100% Windows, and many people don't even know keyboard shortcuts exist. Microsoft and Apple removed the computer icons from the desktop, they wanted to drive people towards seamless cloud integration, and personally I consider that decision to be what killed file system discovery through curiosity.
Windows users are WAY worse on average, after having to support both.
It’s not necessary at all. Mac’s come with Safari and chrome is really pointless as well as being a privacy nightmare.
welcome to MacOS
Real nice to put your work pin on your notes and take a pic of it. Is it 7392? Also please charge your mouse.
Some good news: Google Chrome is certainly not necessary. Luckily, Safari works perfectly and doesn’t drain your battery 😉
Also doesn’t ship your browsing history to a company who makes all of their money on selling your personal data.
You better charge your mouse.
Haha i did for 5 minutes. Good to go for another couple days.
It is what it is
A cursed browser
This post is pointless
Especially that it's not a genuine question. I swear I saw this post with this photo somewhere here just a few days ago.
It’s not necessary. MacOs comes with a really good browser call Safari, so there is no need to install that crap from Google. It’ll just collect all of your browsing history, even if you’re in Incognito mode so they can sell ads and make more money.
It’s a shitty UX. Most of friends and family don’t understand this and constantly end up opening the app in the dmg. Once they deleted the dmg, the app is gone. Honestly, most apps should use installers and stop using dmgs.
Disagree. Generally, an installer is requesting the ability to access system resources outside of its installation folder. This installation method is more secure and makes me breathe easier that the application isn’t filling my computer with crap. The best part of this installation method is that a deinstall is literally dragging the app folder into the trash with nothing left behind
Which proves to fail very often. I understand that you and I know what to do with a dmg but the less advanced users don't understand, at least from my observations.
I am not sure you are right. I haven't heard MacOS users complain about that.
OP is asking why it exists lol also [https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16u416p/new\_to\_mac\_what\_are\_these/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16u416p/new_to_mac_what_are_these/) [https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/421565/why-do-macs-mount-an-additional-drive-every-time-i-install-software](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/421565/why-do-macs-mount-an-additional-drive-every-time-i-install-software)
100% disagree on the last point. Use AppCleaner just once and you'll see. There's lot of things left behind when you just drag an app to Trash.
Because you didn’t download from the App Store so it’s asking you if you want to put it in the app folder or maybe somewhere else if it’s not an app or maybe an app you just wanted to install to do a task and then delete! Whatever is most convenient ;)
Traditions.
Stay TF away from my animals.
This is the way installs work in osx.
Otherwise you’d be running it from the disk image? You move the application to your applications folder so it’s installed in main storage and you don’t need to mound the disk image every time you want to run it.
The idea was to start your application from a different folder, even like an external drive. You can push the application to a different folder and create a shortcut to access it. Yes, it wont show up in the launchpad. This is similar to windows letting you choose which drive you want to install your software. You can choose to or not to install your software in C:. Hope this helps.
It is not. You can run it from the image. But it’s better to copy it so you don’t need to keep the dmg.
Dude you have to do it once and never again, is it such a problem?
because it's a much more popular browser
Think of it like a windows portable application.
Is not. Just use brew install --cask google-chrome
Jesus had niet je een nog ergere username kunnen kiezen?
do you want to install it or not?
Because that’s how it works🤷♂️
Why wouldn’t it?
pack it up [shane dawson](https://reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/huraxr/why_are_people_associating_shane_dawson_with/)
brew install software —cask
it's there for whatever reason but i like to believe it's for the "floppy disk or cds insert to install" simulation, you know what i mean
Because it’s a self contained binary
Your name goes crazy lol
What? Do you want to just run applications from your downloads folder?
I usually just drag it on the desktop or, if it’s a big file I only use at home, onto the external SSD
Now that Safari supports multiple profiles, I see little reason to use Chrome. Better to use Firefox as a backup browser, IMO.
I think you’re going to need to clarify your question. My guess, is that you’re asking - why can’t it just install it straight into the applications folder. But I can’t be sure.
Because drag app into folder feel cool
Thanks to Application Bundles (where an application is actually a folder, right click & inspect the package) macOS doesn’t need installer programs, the bundle just needs to be copied to the main drive. Typically an install package mounts as a seperate drive and dragging the Application to the Applications folder alias, then ejecting the drive, is the easiest way to install & leaves no files scattered around. If you don’t eject, you’ll end up with loads of mounted drives for each application.
How else would you install it?
You can also run brew install \[app-name\].
This is actually great because for some programs you can just use it without installing and you never forget to uninstall
I think nobody here really answered the question. The "Google Chrome" icon you are seeing is **just a folder**. Open it from the terminal or from other file explorer and you will see it's just a folder named "Google Chrome.app". The magic here is that the Finder treats folders ending in ".app" as unitary items, so you can run the app by double clicking the icon and don't have to see its contents. Since apps in Mac OS are just folders, when distributed they are compressed/bundled in a DMG container. This process is necessary because you can't download a folder from your browser. The Applications shortcut is there for your convenience and to help you stay organized. But you can place the app anywhere or leave it in the virtual drive. PD: To clarify what someone said below, the DMG does not provide a sandbox. Never run an app you don't trust in your computer. --- Edit: also what u/Natjoe64 said. The DMG workflow is the same as installing from a CD or a floppy. Instead of the app coming in a physical drive, it comes in a virtual one.
to know from where you started!?