I just installed Leopard (os x 10.5) and as most other users are very happy with it. Until I ran into this little problem: Lotus Notes 7.0.2 will not install. The install script gives an error and forces the install to quit. However I was able to find the problem and force the system to give the correct information to the install script. Here is what I did.

The problem is that the installer for Lotus Notes runs a shell script that determines a few things about your computer, amongst them the current OS version. If the version is not 8 (nothing lower, but also nothing higher) the installer will quit. It uses the sysctl to determine the version. What I did was rename sysctl to something else and create a shell script in the place of sysctl (/usr/sbin/) that only returns what the installer wants to hear.

[robg adds: What follows is potentially very dangerous, as it modifies a key system file. Read on for the details, but be aware that I don't think this is perhaps the best solution (nor do some of the commenters on the queue review team). However, it worked for the submitter, and may help someone else, so read on if you need this information.] All of the following was done as root (except the actual installation). First rename the file and create a new one:

root # cd /usr/sbin/
root # mv sysctl sysctl.bak
root # touch sysctl

Then simply put this inside the file (I used vi):

#!/bin/bash
echo "kern.osrelease = 8.10.0"

Now you need to do chmod a+x sysctl to let the script be runnable. Next you can run the installer and install the software. After that you can delete the 'fake' sysctl file and put the original back:

root # rm sysctl
root # mv sysctl.bak sysctl

That is it; simple but effective!

[robg adds: I've never seen the Lotus installer, but a potentially safer solution would be to first copy the installer to writable media, then look at its script and modify that script to provide the right information back (or have it run a fake sysctl from another location).]