I am not experienced with OSX but I have been using it recently.
It seems to me the equivalent of an .exe (executable) in Windows is a .dmg (disk image) in OSX.
And you don't install it, you mount it.
I am trying to wrap my head around these terms, why do they call it this?
Best Answer
.dmg
files are disk images, similar to an.iso
file.You can think of them like a virtual CD. You put it into the CD drive (mount it), and its contents appear on your computer.
When used for software downloads, they are simply a way to bundle up files, like in a ZIP archive. Their advantage is that it's possible to customize the design (e.g. Finder window background and icon positions, see example below).
The actual program is in a special bundle or package directory with the usually invisible extension
.app
. It contains an application's resources, like image files, and the actual binary (the ".exe
equivalent") that is executed when you start the program. If you want to compare it to a Windows equivalent, the closest would probably be the folder inC:\Program files\
created by a program's installer.To install such an application from a disk image, you drag and drop it to your hard drive, e.g. the
Applications
directory. That's what a lot of disk images try to convey in their disk image design: You grab the application, Adium in this case, and drag it onto the Applications folder: