command line version of finder's get info command

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Level 1

58 points

command line version of finder's get info command

I am trying to find which version of MS Office 2008 is installed on a bunch of machines. On one machine, I can just do a get info on the MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework, but I don't want to have to touch every machine.

Does anyone know of a way to get this info using the command line?

Ideally, I would like to use ARD's send unix command to grab this info from a lot of machines, then run install the .mpkg on the machines that aren't the latest version...

Thanks in advance

Posted on Jan 25, 2010 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

jpimbert

Level 3

660 points

Jan 25, 2010 11:51 AM in response to John Public

The version number is in the /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework/Resources/Info.plist file.
You have to read this file with an appropriate script, for example awk or xsltproc, to find the value of the CFBundleShortVersionString key.

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2010 12:48 PM in response to John Public


/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleVersion" /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Microsoft Word.app/Contents/version.plist

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Answer 3

John Public Author

Level 1

58 points

Jan 26, 2010 5:26 AM in response to Mark Jalbert

Thanks folks, I combined your two suggestions, i.e. use plistbuddy to extract the info from the MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework...Basically, it seems that the version info of office is stored in this particular file, vs word or excel etc...

I used the following command, in case anyone else is trying to do the same thing...

$ /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleVersion" /Applications/Microsoft\ Office\ 2008/Office/MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework/Resources/Info.plist

Thanks

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Answer 4

Jan 26, 2010 11:38 AM in response to John Public

Here's method using awk:

awk -F'</?[^>]+>' '/VersionString/{getline; print $2}' /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework/Resources/Info.plist

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Answer 5

etresoft

Level 9

58,014 points

Jan 26, 2010 11:50 AM in response to Cole Tierney

I think PlistBuddy has the advantage because plist files could be binary.

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Answer 6

Jan 26, 2010 12:38 PM in response to etresoft

I keep forgeting that. I'm still on 10.3.9. This should work on binary plists (notice the missing .plist extention):

defaults read /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework/Resources/Info CFBundleShortVersionString

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Answer 7

etresoft

Level 9

58,014 points

Jan 26, 2010 1:08 PM in response to Cole Tierney

Maybe not. According to the defaults man page:

WARNING: The defaults command will be changed in an upcoming
major release to only operate on preferences domains. General
plist manipulation utilities will be folded into a different
command-line program.

They say there will be an upgrade path, but I can't imagine it being named "PlistBuddy". That sounds way too much like some programmer named it. They need something more professional. plutil is already taken, but maybe it could be enhanced. plmanip maybe.

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Answer 8

Jan 26, 2010 1:16 PM in response to etresoft

Was PlistBuddy introduced with 10.5? I don't see it in 10.3.9 or 10.4.11.

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Answer 9

etresoft

Level 9

58,014 points

Jan 26, 2010 3:03 PM in response to Cole Tierney

Cole Tierney wrote:
Was PlistBuddy introduced with 10.5? I don't see it in 10.3.9 or 10.4.11.

The man page has a date of Feb 19, 2007. I know it is tucked away in /usr/libexec. That is why I didn't find it. I saw the man page for it but figured it was one of those things that has a man page but no executable. I keep forgetting /usr/libexec.

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