Silent install of Symphony (MacOS)

A silent install is an installation of a software program that requires no user interaction. It is a convenient way to streamline the installation process of a desktop application without requiring any user input.

The Symphony Desktop Application (SDA) supports silent installation on MacOS using the standard installer command from the terminal.

2 files are needed to configure the required settings: 

• A user settings file should be created as "/tmp/sym_settings.txt"
• A permissions settings file should be created as "/tmp/sym_permissions.txt"

Both files are plain text files containing the values of the corresponding settings. The files are read by a post-install script in the installer.

To avoid installation issues, the user must create both files using the /tmp path exactly as outlined in the instructions below.

Notes:

• Depending on your system policies, the user may need to request permission to run the commands.
• The parameters that must be configured in both files are listed below. They must be configured in this order, as this is the order in which the installer reads them.
• Do not skip any parameters.

User Settings File

1. Pod Url:
   POD_URL (String): The web address of the pod that the SDA should connect to (for example, https://companyabc.symphony.com).
2. CONTEXT_ORIGIN-URL:
   CONTEXT_ORIGIN_URL (String): Actual pod URL, optional field If you entered your SSO authentication URL instead of the actual pod URL in the POD_URL field, you must enter your actual pod URL in the CONTEXT_ORIGIN_URL field.
   For example, if you’ve set the POD_URL field to https://sso.mycompany.com (SSO authentication URL), assuming that redirects you to https://mycompany.symphony.com (actual pod URL), then
   enter https://mycompany.symphony.com in the CONTEXT_ORIGIN_URL field.
3. Minimize On Close:
   MINIMIZE_ON_CLOSE (Boolean): Minimize the SDA (instead of quitting it) when the Close button is selected.
4. AUTO_START:
   AUTO_START(Boolean): If ENABLED, Symphony is launched at system startup and the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" entry is added to the Windows registry. For the HKEY_CURRENT_USER feature to work, Windows Security Policies must allow the Electron executable to modify this entry.
5. Always On Top:
   ALWAYS_ON_TOP (Boolean): Force the set SDA window to always stay on top of all other applications' windows.
6. Bring To Front:
   BRING_TO_FRONT (Boolean): Bring the SDA to the front upon receiving notifications. On Windows, the SDA icon will also flash in the taskbar.
7. Dev Tools Enabled:
   DEV_TOOLS_ENABLED (Boolean): If true, enables Google Developer Tools for debugging and troubleshooting.
8. ENABLE_BROWSER_LOGIN:
   ENABLE_BROWSER_LOGIN (Boolean):If true, SDA will rely on the default browser to authenticate the current user.

9. BROWSER_LOGIN_AUTOCONNECT:
   BROWSER_LOGIN_AUTOCONNECT (Boolean): This flag works in combination with browser login feature enablement.
   If true, SDA will automatically start the browser login flow without waiting for user interaction.

Sample sym_settings.txt file:

https://companyabc.symphony.com/login/sso/initsso 
true
true
false 
false 
true
false
false
false
false

Note: companyabc is the name of your Symphony instance.

Permissions Settings File

1. Media:
   MEDIA (Boolean): If true, allows the SDA to access the camera, audio and microphone, which are necessary for a complete Symphony Meetings experience.
2. GeoLocation:
   LOCATION (Boolean): If true, allows Symphony to access the user’s location.
   • This feature is not yet available in Symphony, so it can be turned off.
3. Notifications:
   NOTIFICATIONS: If true, enables Chrome's native notifications. This is required on MacOS where SDA uses HTML notifications, not custom notifications as in Windows.
4. Midi Sysex:
   MIDI_SYSEX (Boolean): If true, lets Symphony access external connected devices to play MIDI (musical instrument digital information) files.
5. Pointer Lock:
   POINTER_LOCK (Boolean): If true, locks a pointer within Symphony, which provides input methods based on the relative movement of the mouse cursor over time (for example deltas) - not just the absolute position of the mouse cursor in the viewport.
6. Full Screen:
   FULL_SCREEN (Boolean): If true, allows the SDA to switch to full screen mode. Full screen is a feature used in Symphony Meetings, so it should be turned on to improve the user experience.
7. Open External App:
   OPEN_EXTERNAL (Boolean): If true, it enables opening external applications from inside Symphony. This feature must be set to true for users to open browser windows when URLs are selected inside the SDA.

Sample sym_permissions.txt file:

true
true
true
true
true
true
true

To install the package, use the command below making appropriate changes to the path where the app gets installed:

sudo installer -store -pkg /Users/USER-NAME/Downloads/SDA.pkg -target /

• Symphony recommends installing in the "/" (root) volume. To install the package in the root volume, the user needs to run the sudo command.
• USER-NAME is the local user, for example John.Smith. Replace it with the name of the user for whom the app is being installed.

Learn how to perform a silent install of Symphony for Windows.

If you require further assistance on silent installs of the SDA, please contact the Symphony Support team at support@symphony.com