GM Candidate 2 is out!

[macrumornewuser]

Hi Nathan,

could you please tell me how to do

softwareupdate --download

what is --set-catalog for PB5?

Thanks!

That would be because GMC2 is not the same as PB5, but are very similar. I believe that those on the Developer Preview release train are getting updates fed to them via the "10.10seed" sucatalog whole those on the Public Beta release train are getting updates via the "10.10beta" sucatalog. Each catalog points to a different set of PKG files for the updates: the 10.10seed catalog points to PKGs that update to the latest DP#/GMC# build while the 10.10beta catalog points to PKGs that update to the latest PB# build.


I first discovered this before I had installed the public beta on my machine, and it really turned me off. Updating SMC and EFI firmwares is usually a one-way ticket (although if you have access to a copy of the older version(s) and know what you are doing, it is sometimes possible to downgrade), and there was no way in heck I was going to allow a beta OS release to update my system firmware(s) with what amounts to beta firmware, especially without even asking OR warning me.

On account of this, when I installed the first beta, I created a USB install drive, purged /System/Installation/Packages/EFIPayloads and /System/Installation/Packages/SMCPayloads from it, and then installed from that. This ensured there wouldn't be any firmware updates for the OS X installer to flash during installation. For every PB update since then, I have undergone the same procedure: prepared USB install media, removed EFIPayloads and SMCPayloads from it, and then installed the latest PB on top of my existing Yosemite partition, rather than allow the deltas to be installed via the App Store/Software Update.

For PB5, since the full installation app STILL is not available for download via the App Store, I did a "softwareupdate --download" from the terminal, deleted FirmwareUpdate.pkg from /Library/Updates (just in case), and then ran the OSXUpd10.10Patch.pkg manually. Worked like a charm.

To my knowledge, no past OS X release -- either beta OR final -- has ever bundled firmware updates with it and installed them onto a machine without warning. Firmware updates have always been offered and installed separately from the OS. I am not sure how I feel about the fact that Yosemite apparently "needs" firmware updates to be installed on certain models, and will go ahead and irreversibly install them for you without warning. I *do* know, though, how I feel about a *beta* version of an OS doing this: bad, bad, bad. Stay classy, Apple...

-- Nathan

 

[NathanA]

Do you have any clue what the difference is between OSXUpd10.10Patch.pkg and OSXUpd10.10.pkg? I took the difference to be that the "Patch" version was the normal point-release delta while the non-"Patch" version was the so-called "combo" release that has all changes included since the point-zero release. But that can't be the case if the latest OSXUpd10.10.pkg for PB5/GMC2 is as small as it appears to be.

When I do a "softwareupdate --download" it only downloads the "Patch" PKG, even if I happen to be running a version that is several releases behind. (I just tested this with a Yosemite PB1 installation to an external disk...rather than directly update to PB5, it wants to update to PB2, and it only grabbed the file with Patch in the name.)

-- Nathan

 

[maflynn]

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