Project Documentation

Mac Maker

A portable single binary configuration tool for OSX machines.

• Brings Ansible powered Configuration Management to your Mac.
• Mix and match existing Ansible roles such asdf, clamav and homeshick with the huge array of Mac roles on Ansible Galaxy.

Generate a consistent, reproducible "profile" of your machine

• Start with a freshly installed Mac, and apply a Mac Maker Profile to add all the customizations and applications you want.
• Alternatively, start with an existing Mac you already use, and incrementally build a Mac Maker Profile putting all your existing apps and customizations under version control.

Main Branch Builds

• GitHub:
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Production Branch Builds

• GitHub:
  • 
• Bitrise:
  • 

Quick Start

How do I use this?

If you'd like to try it out, head over to the Mac Maker Releases and download a pre-built binary.

• There are builds available for Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey for Intel Macs.
• There are now builds for Monterey available for Apple Silicon Macs. (Thanks to the folks at bitrise)

If you are unsure, use the tables below to help you find the right binary for your Mac:

Version Number	OS Name
13	Ventura
12	Monterey
11	Big Sur
10	Catalina

Architecture	CPU Type
arm64	Apple Silicon
x86_64	Intel

Please Note:

• They are unsigned, and not notarized by Apple.
• As such, they will trigger a warning about software from an unidentified developer.

OK, but you still didn't tell me how to get started...

Are you on Monterey or Ventura? It may not ship with python anymore! We better check:

• open a terminal and type python3, and if prompted to install the x-code cli tools click install.
• this is less than ideal, but it gets you into a compatible state quickly

For Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura (once you've confirmed python is present):

• Copy the mac_maker binary to the OSX machine you'd like to put under configuration management.
• If you have a working internet connection, you can start working with Mac Maker Profiles.
• To try creating your own Profile, check out this repository.
• To learn more about Mac Maker Profiles, and to try out a simple example, continue reading here.

Mac Maker Profiles

Mac Maker uses the concept of Profiles, to bundle together the Ansible configuration required to configure your Mac.

Here's an example profile for you to test out:

1. Start Mac Maker: ./mac_maker
2. Run the these commands, to check and apply the profile

• precheck github https://github.com/osx-provisioner/profile-example
• apply github https://github.com/osx-provisioner/profile-example

You can work with Profiles in one of two ways:

• Create a public GitHub Repository that contains your profile, taking care NOT to included privileged content.
• Create your profile in any private git repository, and clone it to a USB key (or other portable media). Add a spec.json file to the USB stick telling Mac Maker how to find it.

To find out more:

• Read about the Mac Maker Profiles, and how to build one here.
• Use this template to create your own custom profiles.
• Read about the spec.json file, and how to build one here.

Please Note:

• We've had some user feedback that the spec.json files are a bit complicated to get started with.
• Although we'll continue to support them, we'll soon introduce the ability to simply specify the path to a Mac Maker Profile folder on the local filesystem.

License

As this project effectively bundles Ansible, it must comply with the GNU GPL. You are however free to use and modify this source, as long as the license's terms are respected.

(Pull requests are most welcome, as I sincerely hope this project can be of use to others.)

Detailed Documentation

The project's full documentation can be found here:

• Mac Maker Documentation

Complete build instructions are included, so you can build your own binary.