MAC OS X: Unix executable and .app. Newbie question.

[sinfoni]

Hi all,

I work now for few weeks on Mac OS X.
When I build my projects, two kind of file are created: prog.app and prog

prog seems to be the main file, the binary.
prog.app seems to be a kind of shortcut used to launch prog in a gui environment.
If I launch prog directly, I can see its UI, but I cannot interact with it.

Some questions now:

For a daemon, have I also to provide the daem.app when I deploy the application ?
For a program, can I put the prog.app anywhere, or have I to put it in "/applications" folder ?
If I use PackageMaker, have I to add prog.app AND prog as contents ? Or have I just to add the prog.app file and PackageMaker will automatically and the prog ?
 
Thanks,
André.

[skalogryz]

prog.app seems to be a kind of shortcut used to launch prog in a gui environment.
If I launch prog directly, I can see its UI, but I cannot interact with it.

This is not "shortcut", but bundle.

You can refer to Apple docs (http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/navigation/index.html) for the explanation about bundle's design.

For a daemon, have I also to provide the daem.app when I deploy the application ?

if daemon is system service, without any GUI involved (standard Unix deamon) then the plain binary is enough.

If the deamon is to use GUI, you should provide the bundle for it as well. The GUI deamon bundle would contain a special flag in Info.plist file.

For a program, can I put the prog.app anywhere, or have I to put it in "/applications" folder ?

You can put it anywhere (OSX will start the program normally), but for users you should place it into /Applications.

If I use PackageMaker, have I to add prog.app AND prog as contents ? Or have I just to add the prog.app file and PackageMaker will automatically and the prog ?

Prog.app  and prog as contents (not symbolic link)

http://wiki.freepascal.org/Deploying_Your_Application#Mac_OS_X_installers

[sinfoni]

Thanks a lot