Mac Installation Questions

Installation
1

I have installed Duplicati (2.0.2.1) on multiple Windows & Linux systems and am fairly proficient at it at this point. However, I now need to install it on my daughter’s Macbook Pro (OSX 10.12.6). I am pretty good with Linux but have only lightly used MacOS or Mac systems. I’ve looked all over the Duplicati web site and Forum but Mac-specific documentation is a bit light. I have a few questions I am hoping someone can answer:

  1. I see a lot of discussion about Mono on the Forum. I’ve never had to deal with it in any of my previous installs (maybe it’s just well hidden?). Is Mono required for Macs and do I need to install it separately?

  2. On windows there is a 'Tray Icon" version (used by logged in user) and a ‘service’ version (used by all users, different listening port) Does the Mac version have the same distinction? I only need the ‘service’ version, so are there instructions on how to install this separately?

  3. Are there any major installation or operational differences on the Mac version over the Windows or Linux versions? Once I get it installed does it look/feel like Duplicati on Windows & Linux?

  4. Does the built-in Duplicati scheduling configuration work the same on Macs or do I need to use an OS-based scheduler?

  5. Is there anything I should know or be warned about before beginning that I haven’t asked about? :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance.

2

It’s good to hear you’ve had luck on all the other OS’s, hopefully MacOS / OSX won’t prove too much of a hurdle for you. :slight_smile:

  1. Yes - Duplicati uses .NET and Mono is we get .NET on Linux and MacOS

  2. It all gets installed together, but there isn’t a “Run with windows” type checkbox to make it auto-start. You’ll need to either set up per-user startup items via the standard MacOS System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items (tab) interface OR using a plist file as described here: MacOS / OSX service installation

  3. No major differences - it feels the same with paths in the Linux style

  4. The build-in scheduler works the same, including how it has to be running (either in server or TrayIcon mode) for the schedule to work. If you do NOT want it running all the time, you could use an OS based scheduler to trigger backup via command-line

  5. I personally haven’t had much time to test out a MacOS install. I got it installed and running as a server / service in under 30 min. However, I have had permission issues accessing content across multiple user accounts, but there’s only one ACTIVE user so it hasn’t been high on my priority to figure out

And thanks for reminding me - I actually meant to put together a #howto for the Mac but only got as far as the linked topic above. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
3

Thanks, great advice. There’s only one user on the laptop so I’m not worried about the cross-user permission issue. She’ll be home at Thanksgiving so I’ll be installing it then. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Thanks!