Local copy of Xcode (Lion) I have old macbooks with Lion. Because these are testing machines for different tasks, many reinstallations happens. Downloading the Xcode from the AppStore every time (2.5GB) is slow. Further complicating matters is the "download size" of Xcode 4.3.6 (the latest Xcode for Lion) is 2.5GB, but the application size in /Applications is 3.5GB - so happens some unpacking or so.. and want ensure than the simple copy of the Xcode.app is safe as I don't want a heavy solution that requires:


time machine
SuperDuper or command line dd nor any other disk-copy utility
any other backup strategy - incremnetal or not...


Simpy want to know:


is enough copy the Xcode.app from the /Applications folder to another machine?
when I just installed the Xcode from the AppStore, is enough copy the Xcode.app to another notebook (same HW, same OS version).
if not - why - what is the difference in the RESULT (exactly) between copy and installing Xcode from the AppStore.


How can I safely reuse one download for multiple installs?
I believe your best option is to use SuperDuper! to make a backup image of each machine with a clean instal of the OS and any software you know will be needed for testing every time. Once you have created the backup image it will make reinstalls much faster and easier.

I have not tried copying the Xcode.app before, but I think you would be missing a lot of preferences and command line tools if all you copied was the app.

EDIT:
If you download Xcode from the App Store and copy that Xcode.app package to another machine without ever launching it, it should work fine. There should be no preference files or app support until after the first time Xcode is launched. From my point of view though, this is not a very useful way of putting test/development machines together though because when I use Xcode I have it set-up a certain way with command line tools installed which would need to be done on each machine when you copy the Xcode.app.