Open PKG File

View PKG File Contents

Many of the applications for Mac are distributed in a PKG installation package. These installers are convenient because they are responsible for copying files to different system locations as well as modifying global configurations, operations impossible to perform simply by dragging an application to the applications folder.

However frequently installation files are offered from 3rd party vendors and not from the official Apple store. Installing such PKG files could be dangerous and that is why it may be necessary to check if they do not contain malicious content.

For this purpose, you can download an application called "Suspicious Package" for Mac that allows to open and inspect the PKG installer files before running it.

These are the steps you have to follow:

• Download Suspicious Package for free from the developer's page (for macOS and Mac OS X).
• To test or use the program you can drag any PKG installer into the application, or select one from the program's search engine and pressing Command + spacebar to activate the quick view on the package in question.
• Suspicious Package application will show you three main tabs that details all kinds of information about the PKG file.
• The first is Package Info that shows a description, including how many elements will be installed, the size of the installation, the developer ID, if signed, if it is valid or expired, how many installation scripts are executed and where and when discharge.
• The All files view shows you exactly which files are in the package and where they are going to be installed, including the permissions for specific files.
• The final tab Post install shows the scripts that will be executed.

While all this is informative for any user, the tool is really designed to help advanced users find package files from questionable sources.

This program needs a recent version of MacOS or MacOS X.