Using the Jamf Pro API to mass-delete obsolete packages and scripts

If you’re using AutoPkg and tools like jamf-upload or JSSImporter to automate the uploading of packages and scripts to your Jamf Pro server, it may be necessary to periodically delete a large number of now-obsolete installer packages or scripts from your server. To help with this, I’ve written a couple of scripts to help automate the deletion process by using a list of Jamf IDs and the API to perform the following tasks:

1. Delete the relevant installer packages or scripts.
2. Generate a report of which packages or scripts were deleted.

For more details, please see below the jump.

Both scripts work with a text file of Jamf Pro IDs, and also include error checking to make sure that the text file’s entries contained only positive numbers.

To use these scripts, you will need four things:

1. A text file containing the Jamf Pro package or script IDs you wish to delete.
2. The address of the appropriate Jamf Pro server
3. The username of an account on the Jamf Pro server which has the necessary privileges to delete computers and/or mobile devices.
4. The password to that account.

The test file should contain only the relevant Jamf Pro IDs and appear similar to this:

Once you have the text file and the other prerequisites, the scripts can be run using the following commands:

To delete installer packages:

/path/to/delete_Jamf_Pro_Packages.sh /path/to/text_filename_here.txt

To delete scripts:

/path/to/delete_Jamf_Pro_Scripts.sh /path/to/text_filename_here.txt

For authentication, the scripts can accept manual input or values stored in a ~/Library/Preferences/com.github.jamfpro-info.plist file.

The plist file can be created by running the following commands and substituting your own values where appropriate:

To store the Jamf Pro URL in the plist file:

defaults write com.github.jamfpro-info jamfpro_url https://jamf.pro.server.goes.here:port_number_goes_here

To store the account username in the plist file:

defaults write com.github.jamfpro-info jamfpro_user account_username_goes_here

To store the account password in the plist file:

defaults write com.github.jamfpro-info jamfpro_password account_password_goes_here

It is also possible to simulate a run of the script, to make sure everything is working before running the actual deletion. To put the script into simulation mode, comment out the following line of the script.

delete_Jamf_Pro_Packages.sh

/usr/bin/curl -su ${jamfpro_user}:${jamfpro_password} "${jamfproIDURL}/$PackagesID" -X DELETE

delete_Jamf_Pro_Scripts.sh

/usr/bin/curl -su ${jamfpro_user}:${jamfpro_password} "${jamfproIDURL}/$ScriptsID" -X DELETE

To take it out of simulation mode and enable deletion, uncomment the line.

In simulation mode, you can test out if the script is reading the text file properly and the authentication method. For example, the following output should be seen in simulation mode if the text file is being read properly and manual input is being used.

username@computername ~ % /path/to/delete_Jamf_Pro_Scripts.sh ~/Desktop/home_scripts_report.txt

Please enter your Jamf Pro server URL : https://jamf.pro.server.goes.here:8443
Please enter your Jamf Pro user account : jpadmin
Please enter the password for the jpadmin account:
Deleting iscasperonline.sh - script ID 13.

Deleted iscasperonline.sh - script ID 13.

Deleting xcode_uninstall.sh - script ID 15.

Deleted xcode_uninstall.sh - script ID 15.

Report on deleted scripts available here: /var/folders/wz/mp27mjl97h505nvff787hh3c0000gn/T/tmp.IaiOiHgI.tsv
username@computername ~ %

The following output should be seen in production mode if the text file is being read properly and the needed values are being read from a ~/Library/Preferences/com.github.jamfpro-info.plist file.

username@computername ~ % /path/to/delete_Jamf_Pro_Scripts.sh ~/Desktop/home_scripts_report.txt

Deleting iscasperonline.sh - script ID 13.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><script><id>13</id></script>
Deleted iscasperonline.sh - script ID 13.

Deleting xcode_uninstall.sh - script ID 15.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><script><id>15</id></script>
Deleted xcode_uninstall.sh - script ID 15.

Report on deleted scripts available here: /var/folders/wz/mp27mjl97h505nvff787hh3c0000gn/T/tmp.vZgL8WOk.tsv
username@computername ~ %

Once the script has completed its run, it will generate a report on the deleted items in tab-separated format and display the .tsv file’s location.

The scripts are available below, and at the following addresses on GitHub:

https://github.com/rtrouton/rtrouton_scripts/tree/master/rtrouton_scripts/Casper_Scripts/delete_Jamf_Pro_Packages

https://github.com/rtrouton/rtrouton_scripts/tree/master/rtrouton_scripts/Casper_Scripts/delete_Jamf_Pro_Scripts

delete_Jamf_Pro_Packages.sh:

delete_Jamf_Pro_Scripts.sh: