Return to Answer

This is the conventional way for installing software on macOS.

1. The software is provided on an Apple Disk Image (the .dmg file), the purpose of which is to emulate a physical disk (CD, floppy, etc.) and provide compression if needed (like a ZIP archive). This is functionally very similar to an ISO file (used a lot on Windows) but very different in nature (see What is the difference between ISO and DMG images? for more information).
2. Once downloaded, you open the .dmg file which will mount the disk image and make it appear as a removable drive.
3. The installation process usually consists of moving the Application Bundle (.app) from inside the drive to your Application folder, the disk image usually contains a shortcut to the local Application folder for this very purpose (to drag & drop).
4. Once finished, you are supposed to eject the drive (which will unmount the disk image) and disposed of the image file if no longer required.

This is a just the conventional way that macOS users are accustomed to but not all software follow this procedure :

• Software from the App Store doesn't follow this procedure but are installed automatically in the background.
• Some software are provided on an Installer Package File (.pkg) which once open makes the users go through an installation wizard, very similar to an .exe or .msi installer on Windows.
• Some software are provided as an .app in a ZIP archive, which (following the default behaviour of Safari and Finder) is automatically uncompressed leaving you with only the .app that can be moved from the Download folder to the Application folder without a disk image.

It is in the hand of the software provider to decide how they want to distribute their application. If they provide you with a .dmg file, you'll have to mount and unmount it, there is not much you can do on your side.

If you're a software developper and are more accustomed to a package manager approach (like in linux distributions), you may take a look at Homebrew. It is initially designed for open-source CLI software, but its Cask extension allow for command line management of graphical application (including IntelliJ IDEA for example, you can check if your software is supported here).

This is the conventional way for installing software on macOS.

1. The software is provided on an Apple Disk Image (the .dmg file), the purpose of which is to emulate a physical disk (CD, floppy, etc.) and provide compression if needed (like a ZIP archive). This is functionally very similar to an ISO file (used a lot on Windows) but very different in nature (see What is the difference between ISO and DMG images? for more information).
2. Once downloaded, you open the .dmg file which will mount the disk image and make it appear as a removable drive.
3. The installation process usually consists of copying the Application Bundle (.app) from inside the drive to your Application folder, the disk image usually contains a shortcut to the local Application folder for this very purpose (to drag & drop).
4. Once finished, you are supposed to eject the drive (which will unmount the disk image) and disposed of the image file if no longer required.

This is a just the conventional way that macOS users are accustomed to but not all software follow this procedure :

• Software from the App Store doesn't follow this procedure but are installed automatically in the background.
• Some software are provided on an Installer Package File (.pkg) which once open makes the users go through an installation wizard, very similar to an .exe or .msi installer on Windows.
• Some software are provided as an .app in a ZIP archive, which (following the default behaviour of Safari and Finder) is automatically uncompressed leaving you with only the .app that can be moved from the Download folder to the Application folder without a disk image.

It is in the hand of the software provider to decide how they want to distribute their application. If they provide you with a .dmg file, you'll have to mount and unmount it, there is not much you can do on your side.

If you are more accustomed to a package manager approach (like in linux distributions), you may take a look at Homebrew. It is initially designed for open-source CLI software, but its Cask extension allow for command line management of graphical application (including IntelliJ IDEA for example, you can check if your software is supported here).

This is the conventional way for installing software on macOS.

1. The software is provided on an Apple Disk Image (the .dmg file), the purpose of which is to emulate a physical disk (CD, floppy, etc.) and provide compression if needed (like a ZIP archive). This is functionally very similar to an ISO file (used a lot on Windows) but very different in nature (see What is the difference between ISO and DMG images? for more information).
2. Once downloaded, you open the .dmg file which will mount the disk image and make it appear as a removable drive.
3. The installation process usually consists of moving the .app from inside the drive to your Application folder, the disk image usually contains a shortcut to the local Application folder for this very purpose (to drag & drop).
4. Once finished, you are supposed to eject the drive (which will unmount the disk image) and disposed of the image file if no longer required.

This is a just the conventional way that macOS users are accustomed to but not all software follow this procedure :

• Software from the App Store doesn't follow this procedure but are installed automatically in the background.
• Some software are provided on an Installer Package File (.pkg) which once open makes the users go through an installation wizard, very similar to an .exe or .msi installer on Windows.
• Some software are provided as an .app file in a ZIP archive, which (following the default behaviour of Safari and Finder) is automatically uncompressed leaving you with only the .app file that can be moved from the Download folder to the Application folder without a disk image.

It is in the hand of the software provider to decide how they want to distribute their application. If they provide you with a .dmg file, you'll have to mount and unmount it, there is not much you can do on your side.

If you're a software developper and are more accustomed to a package manager approach (like in linux distributions), you may take a look at Homebrew. It is initially designed for open-source CLI software, but its Cask extension allow for command line management of graphical application (including IntelliJ IDEA for example, you can check if your software is supported here).

This is the conventional way for installing software on macOS.

1. The software is provided on an Apple Disk Image (the .dmg file), the purpose of which is to emulate a physical disk (CD, floppy, etc.) and provide compression if needed (like a ZIP archive). This is functionally very similar to an ISO file (used a lot on Windows) but very different in nature (see What is the difference between ISO and DMG images? for more information).
2. Once downloaded, you open the .dmg file which will mount the disk image and make it appear as a removable drive.
3. The installation process usually consists of moving the Application Bundle (.app) from inside the drive to your Application folder, the disk image usually contains a shortcut to the local Application folder for this very purpose (to drag & drop).
4. Once finished, you are supposed to eject the drive (which will unmount the disk image) and disposed of the image file if no longer required.

This is a just the conventional way that macOS users are accustomed to but not all software follow this procedure :

• Software from the App Store doesn't follow this procedure but are installed automatically in the background.
• Some software are provided on an Installer Package File (.pkg) which once open makes the users go through an installation wizard, very similar to an .exe or .msi installer on Windows.
• Some software are provided as an .app in a ZIP archive, which (following the default behaviour of Safari and Finder) is automatically uncompressed leaving you with only the .app that can be moved from the Download folder to the Application folder without a disk image.

It is in the hand of the software provider to decide how they want to distribute their application. If they provide you with a .dmg file, you'll have to mount and unmount it, there is not much you can do on your side.

If you're a software developper and are more accustomed to a package manager approach (like in linux distributions), you may take a look at Homebrew. It is initially designed for open-source CLI software, but its Cask extension allow for command line management of graphical application (including IntelliJ IDEA for example, you can check if your software is supported here).

This is the conventional way for installing software on macOS.

1. The software is provided on an Apple Disk Image (the .dmg file), the purpose of which is to emulate a physical disk (CD, floppy, etc.) and provide compression if needed (like a ZIP archive). This is functionally very similar to an ISO file (used a lot on Windows) but very different in nature (see What is the difference between ISO and DMG images? for more information).
2. Once downloaded, you open the .dmg file which will mount the disk image and make it appear as a removable drive.
3. The installation process usually consists of moving the .app from inside the drive to your Application folder, the disk image usually contains a shortcut to the local Application folder for this purpose (to drag & drop).
4. Once finished, you are supposed to eject the drive (which will unmount the disk image) and disposed of the image file if no longer required.

This is a just the conventional way that macOS users are accustomed to but not all software follow this procedure :

• Software from the App Store doesn't follow this procedure but are installed automatically in the background.
• Some software are provided on an Installer Package File (.pkg) which once open makes the users go through an installation wizard, very similar to an .exe or .msi installer on Windows.
• Some software are provided as an .app file directly, that can be moved from the Download folder to the Application folder without a disk image.
• Some software are provided in a ZIP archive that needs to be uncompressed.

It is in the hand of the software provider to decide how they want to distribute their application. If they provide you with a .dmg file, you'll have to mount and unmount it, there is not much you can do on your side.

If you're a software developper and are more accustomed to a package manager approach (like in linux distributions), you may take a look at Homebrew. It is initially designed for open-source CLI software, but its Cask extension allow for command line management of graphical application (including IntelliJ IDEA for example, you can check if your software is supported here).

This is the conventional way for installing software on macOS.

1. The software is provided on an Apple Disk Image (the .dmg file), the purpose of which is to emulate a physical disk (CD, floppy, etc.) and provide compression if needed (like a ZIP archive). This is functionally very similar to an ISO file (used a lot on Windows) but very different in nature (see What is the difference between ISO and DMG images? for more information).
2. Once downloaded, you open the .dmg file which will mount the disk image and make it appear as a removable drive.
3. The installation process usually consists of moving the .app from inside the drive to your Application folder, the disk image usually contains a shortcut to the local Application folder for this very purpose (to drag & drop).
4. Once finished, you are supposed to eject the drive (which will unmount the disk image) and disposed of the image file if no longer required.

This is a just the conventional way that macOS users are accustomed to but not all software follow this procedure :

• Software from the App Store doesn't follow this procedure but are installed automatically in the background.
• Some software are provided on an Installer Package File (.pkg) which once open makes the users go through an installation wizard, very similar to an .exe or .msi installer on Windows.
• Some software are provided as an .app file in a ZIP archive, which (following the default behaviour of Safari and Finder) is automatically uncompressed leaving you with only the .app file that can be moved from the Download folder to the Application folder without a disk image.

It is in the hand of the software provider to decide how they want to distribute their application. If they provide you with a .dmg file, you'll have to mount and unmount it, there is not much you can do on your side.

If you're a software developper and are more accustomed to a package manager approach (like in linux distributions), you may take a look at Homebrew. It is initially designed for open-source CLI software, but its Cask extension allow for command line management of graphical application (including IntelliJ IDEA for example, you can check if your software is supported here).