Pacifist 2.6.3

What is Pacifist?

Pacifist is a Cocoa application that opens up .pkg installer packages and lets you install or extract individual files out of them. It is also able to open a variety of other formats, including .mpkg metapackages, .zip archives, .dmg disk images, and .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .cpio, .cpio.gz, .cpio.bz2, and .xar archives.

Why is this useful?

Pacifist can come in handy if you need to install just one file out of a package instead of the entire package. For example, if your copy of Mail or iChat gets damaged and you need to reinstall it, but don’t want to go to the trouble of reinstalling the entire operating system, you can use Pacifist to extract only what you need from the install packages. Pacifist can also be used instead of the normal Installer, which can be helpful if you experience bugs in the Installer that mess up your symbolic links, or if you just like a little more control over the installation process.

Does Pacifist have any other uses?

As a matter of fact, yes. Pacifist also includes the ability to verify existing intallations, comparing the files on your hard disk with the files listed in the package, and notifying you of missing files as well as files that have different permissions or checksums than those listed in the package*. Pacifist is also able to scan through your receipts for kernel extensions, and compare them against the kernel extensions you have installed, so that you can see what kernel extensions in your System folder have been installed by third-party applications. Pacifist also includes the ability to update prebinding information, either for the entire hard disk, or for an individual folder (although updating the prebinding information is not necessary in Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger” and higher, and is not as necessary in Mac OS X 10.2 “Jaguar” and higher as it was in earlier versions of Mac OS X).

A full list of Pacifist’s features is available here.

Where does Pacifist’s name come from?

Pacifist gets its name from the command-line tool “pax”, which is the tool that Installer.app uses to install files out of the compressed archives in the .pkg files. At the time Pacifist was written, the pax tool was not nearly as peaceful as its name implied, having a tendency to march along in a most belligerent manner, destroying symlinks and folder permissions that lie in its path. As a result, one of Pacifist’s original goals was to tame pax, using it in a way that caused it to be more “peaceful” to existing files on your hard disk. Apple has greatly improved its installer and its use of the pax tool since those days, and Pacifist's focus has now changed to examining .pkg packages and other supported archive types and extracting individual files from them.

How much does Pacifist cost?

Pacifist is shareware and costs $20. The software can be used for as long a trial period as you find necessary to evaluate it, but you will be presented with a “nag screen” at startup until you register. You can register via Kagi by double-clicking on the URL file included with Pacifist or by clicking the “Register...” button in the register window that appears when Pacifist starts up.

What are the system requirements for Pacifist?

Pacifist requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

Who should I contact if I have problems or questions about Pacifist?

All technical support queries, bug reports, and feature requests should be sent to the author, Charles Srstka, at . Questions regarding registration codes should be sent to .

I really hope you find Pacifist to be a useful addition to your collection of utilities for Mac OS X. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at the address provided above.