Last week before christmas, but Apple already had plenty to give. The updates for macOS Big Sur, iOS and siblings dropped on Monday.
As this is the first real update for Big Sur, some flaws in the new software update workflow were exposed. Victor Vrantchan did an excellent write-up.
This is the last News Summary for 2020. I’ll be taking a few weeks off and return in January.
Happy holidays and all the best for 2021!
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.)
News and Opinion
- No cookie for you – The GitHub Blog (no trackers on scriptingosx.com either!)
macOS 11 Big Sur and Apple silicon Macs
- Apple Silicon, the softwareupdate binary and password prompts – Ben Toms
- About Software Updates in Big Sur – Victor Vrantchan
- A follow up on Big Sur VM building, and a tip for automated enrollment success – Dr. Emily Kausalik
- Thunderbolt Devices & What We Can Verify – Mark C, Rocket Yard, OWC
- You Had One Job! Apple Silicon Macs Can’t Be Locked Using MDM Lock Command – Nathaniel Strauss
- Apple has stopped providing standalone installers for macOS updates – Howard Oakley
- Extensions, Big Sur and M1 Macs – Howard Oakley
macOS and iOS Updates
- macOS Big Sur 11.1 (20C69)
- iOS 14.3
- iPadOS 14.3
- watchOS 7.2
- Security Update 2020-001 (Catalina) (19H114)
- Security Update 2020-007 (Mojave) (18G7016)
- Apple security updates
- macOS Server 5.11
- Xcode 5.3
- macOS Big Sur 11.1 Release Notes
- iOS & iPadOS 14.3 Release Notes
- watchOS 7.2 Release Notes
- Xcode 12.3 Release Notes
- What’s new in macOS Server 5.11
- Deployment Reference for Mac:
- Deployment Reference for iPhone and iPad:
- Mobile Device Management Settings:
- What’s New in the macOS Big Sur 11.1 Update 20C69? – Mr. Macintosh
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Tim Perfitt: “We just tested installing the just released macOS 11.1 installer from a Catalina recovery, and it still fails.” (Note: read the AppleSeed for IT release notes for macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta)
- Mike Lynn: “When doing keychain code, if you ever get told the generic “you have the wrong parameters” -50:
log stream --predicate "subsystem == 'com.apple.securityd'” So very very helpful.” - Mr. Macintosh: “Manual downloadable delta and combo updates for Big Sur are no longer available. I will let our resident MacAdmins expert explain: ‘If you have a need for individual downloads for Big Sur delta/combo updaters – please make sure that’s filed in an official capacity with us'”
Bugs and Security
Support and HowTos
- Printing With Expanded Dialogs By Default on the Mac – Charles Edge
- Disable Smart Dashes in macOS – Charles Edge (Note: you can do this on a per-application basis as well. Many Apps expose this in the Edit > Substitutions menu.)
- Outlook for Mac – Planned update for injection-based plugins – Outlook for Mac Support
- Munki can get into a notification loop if root is using the Persian calendar – Alan Siu
- Chrome Updater May Cause Mac Slowness – Michael Tsai (I find the desire to blame Chrome or Keystone here a bit pre-mature, but something seems to be going on.)
- Using Signing Manager with Macs on AWS EC2 – Tim Perfitt, Twocanoes Software
Scripting and Automation
- mvdbent/setDock
- JamfUploader: new AutoPkg processors for importing packages to Jamf Pro – Dr. Graham Pugh
- Scripting with SwiftUI (II) – Scripts Provider – Alexis Bridoux
- Native Restart and Logout Dialogs with PyObjC – Nathaniel Strauss
- jpt is unphased by macOS’s malformed JSON – brunerd
Apple Support
Updates and Releases
- BBEdit 13.5.3
- MacAdmins/Python 3.9.1 (Universal build)
- Munki 5.2.1 Official Release
- 4 ways Microsoft 365 is improving the experience for Mac users – Microsoft 365 Blog (spoiler: universal apps)
- HP Printer Drivers v5.1 for macOS (support Big Sur)
- Download and Try the Tech Preview of Docker Desktop for M1 – Docker Blog
- Jamf Pro 10.26.1
To Listen
- There are No Dumb Python Questions – MacDevOpsYVR
- The Nana Package — Command-Control-Power
- Better Support with Bots, with Frankie White of Slack – Mac Admins Podcast
Support
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