Christmas for Mac users came early this year. At least for those Mac users who can afford a new Mac Pro. Whether you think the price is justified or not, whether you would like an Apple tower Mac or think desktops are so last decade, the Mac Pro (and the new MacBook Pro 16“) symbolizes a new desire from Apple to re-focus on the ”Pro” users. It remains to be seen if Apple’s vision of what Pro users need and want matches the reality.
Those who don’t get a shiny new Mac Pro, still got updates this week. macOS Catalina 10.15.2, iOS 13.3 and its various sibling updates dropped this week as well.
If you would rather get the weekly newsletter by email, you can subscribe to the Scripting OS X Weekly Newsletter here!! (Same content, delivered to your Inbox once a week.)
On Scripting OS X
- Build a macOS Application to Run a Shell Command with Xcode and SwiftUI
- Upper- or lower-casing strings in bash and zsh
Moving to zsh – Book reviews
- Are you ever likely to use Terminal in Catalina? – Howard Oakley
- Resources for Adapting to zsh in Catalina – Josh Centers, Tidbits
- Armin Briegel’s ‘Moving to zsh’ – Ryan Dotson
Do you know that you can gift Apple Books? If you are looking for last minute gift ideas for that Terminal using friend, family member, or co-worker of yours, give them some know-how and increased productivity: “Moving to zsh”
macOS Catalina 10.15.2 and iOS 13.3 updates
- Apple has released Catalina 10.15.2 update and Security Updates for High Sierra and Mojave – Howard Oakley
- What’s New in the macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Update (19C57)? – Mr Macintosh
- What has changed in Catalina 10.15.2? – Howard Oakley
- What’s changed in the Mojave 10.14.6 Security Update 2019–002? – Howard Oakley
- Xcode 11.3 Release Notes
- iOS 13.3 Update
- iPadOS 13.3 Update
- About the security content of macOS Catalina 10.15.2, Security Update 2019–002 Mojave, Security Update 2019–007 High Sierra
- Apple security updates
News and Opinion
- The Mac “Pro” – Martin Pilkington (for what it’s worth, I don’t entirely agree with this post, but I think it is worth reading)
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Rich Trouton: “The book I wrote with @cedge318 has been available for pre-order, but it looks like we’re getting close to a release date of January 3, 2020! For folks with a shiny new Amazon gift card this Christmas, why not treat yourself to the gift of knowledge?” Amazon US, UK, DE (Affiliate Links)
- Victor (groob): “Maybe next time @Apple will consider shipping a few review models to enterprise customers who need to make sure these are ready for users. Priorities…”
- Pepijn Bruienne: “It’s official! iOS and iPadOS 13.3 now support FIDO2/Webauthn for NFC, USB and Lightning-based security keys for everyone. Get a key, start enabling FIDO2 with services that support it and ask those who don’t what their timeline for adoption is.”
- Graham Pugh: “Fun fact: Apple even renewed the certificate in the Java for OSX 2017–001 installer. And there is still software out there that needs it…”
Bugs and Security
- MacOS Filename Homoglyphs Revisited – Adam Chester, MDSec
- New(ish) Presentation: Poking the Bear – Teasing out Apple’s Secrets through Dynamic Forensic Testing and Analysis — Sarah Edwards
- Multiple Git vulnerabilities in 2.24 and older – Taylor Blau, The GitHub Blog (via Anderson Eduardo)
- XProtect version 2109 for macOS Catalina 10.15.2 only – Howard Oakley
Support and HowTos
- Using TouchID for sudo on macOS – Ed Marczak
- Apple invents a new procedure to fix MacBook Pro 13-inch 2019 models – Howard Oakley
- Forced to use Zsh by macOS Catalina? Let’s fix our “history” command first – Rand Grey
- Can you still use AFP sharing? – Howard Oakley
- Stick a fork in it, and other flashbacks – Howard Oakley
- Native support for WebAuthn and FIDO is finally here on iPhones and iPads – Stina Ehrensvard, Yubico
- SQA Exam Chromebook Admin Guide – Fraser Speirs
- Moving MDMs: How to Migrate macOS Devices Between MDMs – SimpleMDM
Apple Support
- Deployment Reference for Mac (updated, via Dave Marra)
- Pepijn Bruienne: “From the updated iOS/iPadOS deployment documentation: a handy table listing software update deferral windows by release and 90-day expiration date”
- Mike Boylan: “New Deployment Reference Guide for Mac has been posted! As promised, the FileVault and SecureToken section has been updated to include information about the Bootstrap Token and some subtle behavior changes in Catalina.”
- Kyle Crawford: ““On Mac computers, software updates deferral restriction applies to OS updates only. iTunes, Safari, security updates, or other supplemental updates for macOS aren’t restricted.”!”
- Deployment Reference for iPhone and iPad (updated)
- Mobile Device Management Settings
- Mac Pro 2019 (via Owen Hael)
- Install PCIe cards in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Use the Radeon Pro Vega II MPX Module with your Mac Pro
- Use the Radeon Pro 580X MPX Module with your Mac Pro
- Use the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo MPX Module with your Mac Pro
- About the Afterburner accelerator card for Mac Pro (2019)
- About the Promise Pegasus R4i MPX RAID storage module for Mac Pro (2019)
- Using AMD graphics cards with Microsoft Windows on Mac Pro (2019)
- PCIe cards you can install in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Mac Pro (2019) status indicator light behavior
- Mac Pro (2019) memory specifications
- Install and replace memory in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Install and replace parts in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Use multiple displays with your Mac Pro (2019)
- Install PCIe cards in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Replace the Apple I/O card in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Replace the power supply in your Mac Pro (2019)
- Apple Pro Display XDR (via Owen Hael)
Updates and Releases
- Munki 4.0 Official Release
- Custom Apps now available: Deploy any app to your Mac fleet – Fleetsmith Blog
- Microsoft Remote Desktop (Mac, iOS)
To Listen
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