Forum Discussion
Is it possible for Mac version of Edge to have Online installer just like Windows version of Edge?
I'm curious to know why Edge on Mac doesn't have Online installer. neither insider nor stable versions.
is it an OS limitation inside Mac that makes it impossible or something else?
Hello!
Thanks for the question! It is possible to have an online installer on the macOS platform but here's the reasons why we chose not to.
A majority of the apps on macOS platform use either a drag-and-drop DMG installer or a PKG. We currently use the PKG method. This method makes it difficult to write an online installer because you're relying on implementing the network stack and installation stack all in a shell/bash script, which I think is difficult for stability and error handling. A custom installer could be written, but that would be foreign to the platform, and I believe would not be friendly to an average macOS user. Other Microsoft products (i.e. Office, Teams, VSCode) use an offline installer on macOS, and not an online installer as well.
For stability and platform-consistency, I think there is less benefit for the user and us to use an online installer vs an offline installer.Thanks!
Michael Chang
Software Engineer - Microsoft Edge
4 Replies
HotCakeX Great question! I'll ask the mac team and loop back with you if they have any insights.
Fawkes (they/them)
Project & Community Manager - Microsoft Edge- Thank you!
Hello!
Thanks for the question! It is possible to have an online installer on the macOS platform but here's the reasons why we chose not to.
A majority of the apps on macOS platform use either a drag-and-drop DMG installer or a PKG. We currently use the PKG method. This method makes it difficult to write an online installer because you're relying on implementing the network stack and installation stack all in a shell/bash script, which I think is difficult for stability and error handling. A custom installer could be written, but that would be foreign to the platform, and I believe would not be friendly to an average macOS user. Other Microsoft products (i.e. Office, Teams, VSCode) use an offline installer on macOS, and not an online installer as well.
For stability and platform-consistency, I think there is less benefit for the user and us to use an online installer vs an offline installer.Thanks!
Michael Chang
Software Engineer - Microsoft Edge
