Script to Copy preference file to all users profiles and to the default template

sorry...my mistake I logged in with some different account

Hi Mark...thanks for the script. My package place the script into the current logged in user library. So I made some change to the package, and now instead of putting the preference file in user profile, I put it /private/var and from here I would like to copy it to all the users on the machine.

So, I tried to change the location in your script as below, but it doesn't seems to be working as expected. It comes up with the following error

line 7: syntax error: near unexpected end token 'done'

line 7: 'done'

#!/bin/sh
ls $3/Users/ | while read USERS; do
if [ -d $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences/ ]; then
    cp $1/private/var/org.mypreference.plist $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences/
    chown $USERS:Staff $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences/org.mypreference.plist
done
exit 0

Hello Mark, Thanks again for your help. I am still unable to get it worked. When I ran the script it comes up with the following error:

/usr/bin/install: illegal option -- u

usage: install [-bCcpSsv] [-B suffix] [-f flags] [-g group] [-m mode]

[-o owner] file1 file2

install [-bCcpSsv] [-B suffix] [-f flags] [-g group] [-m mode]

[-o owner] file1 ... fileN directory

install -d [-v] [-g group] [-m mode] [-o owner] directory ...

/usr/bin/install: illegal option -- u

Hello Mark..I tried it with the new script as you said, this time it comes with below syntax error :

line 4: syntax error near unexpected token `then'

line 4: ` if [ -d $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences/ ]; then'

Below is the script

#!/bin/sh

ls $3/Users/ | while read USERS; do
     if [ -d $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences/ ]; then
          /usr/bin/install -m 600 -o $USERS -g Staff $3/private/var/org.mypreference.plist $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences/
     fi
done
exit 0

Hi Mark...here is another script which work well if I have to copy my preference file from an account named as "admin" or some other account. However, it not certain that all Mac machine will have a account named as "admin". This is why I am looking for a way to copy the preference file from /private/var location to all user accounts on a mac.

#!/bin/sh


localUsers=$( dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '$2 >= 501 {print $1}' | grep -v admin )


for userName in "$localUsers"; do
     cp /Users/admin/Library/Preferences/org.mypreference.plist /Users/$userName/Library/Preferences/
     chown $userName /Users/$userName/Library/Preferences/org.mypreference.plist
done

I tried to update it as suggest in some other forum like this, still no luck 😟

#!/bin/sh


UserAccounts=`dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '$2 > 500 { print $1 }'`
for userName in "$UserAccounts"; do
     cp /private/var/org.mypreference.plist /Users/$userName/Library/Preferences/
     chown $userName /Users/$userName/Library/Preferences/org.mypreference.plist
done

When I run the above script it comes up with the following error:

cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file target_file

cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file ... target_directory

chown: admin: No such file or directory

chown: admin/Library/Preferences/org.mypreference.plist: No such file or directory

I just tried to build the packge with the above script, the installation of package fails, while executing the postflight script. The package installs the application to /Application and then copies the preference file to /private/var and then it fails while executnig the script. The error is same

line 4: syntax error near unexpected token `then'

line 4: ` if [ -d $3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences ]; then'

Currently I am testing it on 10.8 machine to build my package. On Monday, Once I get back to work I will give a try on 10.6 as well.

What does the command "

/usr/bin/install -m 600

Thank Again for all your efforts in helping me out...Have a great weekend 🙂

Thanks for the explanation, now the command make much sense to me. However, still no luck...same error:

line 4: syntax error near unexpected token `then'

line 4: ` if [ -d "$3/Users/$USERS/Library/Preferences" ]; then'