I haven't yet installed the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update, although I
hope to download the humongous 668 MB Combo updater sometime over the
next few days. Because broadband hasn't penetrated to my neck of the
(literal) woods yet, that involves a 24 mile round trip to the local
(so to speak) library's WiFi hot spot, which hopefully will be
working.
It wasn't the last two times I was there.
Software Update Impractical for Some
I may try to get away with the 372 MB Delta incremental updater this
time, because I had the Combo for the OS X 10.5.5 update, but my,
how it's grown. The OS X 10.5.4 "Delta" upgrade installer was a
mere wisp of a thing at 88 MB, which I managed to download in an
overnight session over my clunky home office dialup connection. I
didn't encounter any problems with that update, which went very
smoothly. However, the OS 10.5.5 "Delta" was a whopping 316 MB - and
this latest one is even bigger.
For me, Apple's automated software update is not a practical
alternative. But even if I had access to the fastest of broadband
connections, I would still go with the standalone updates, at least for
operating system upgrades. I keep Software Update turned off.
Apple released four OS X 10.5.6 updaters (Client and Server,
each in a Combo and Delta version) Monday afternoon. To update to Mac
OS X 10.5.6, you have the option of using Apple's Software Update or a
standalone installer - the latter being my recommendation. As noted,
the standalone installer is available in an incremental "Delta" version
that lets you update from Mac OS X 10.5.5 to 10.5.6, and a
comprehensive "Combo" version that lets you update from any prior
version of Mac OS X 10.5 to 10.5.6.
Use the Combo Updater
I recommend using the combo updater even if you're only moving up
one notch from OS X 10.5.5 to 10.5.6 if practical.
Note that both Combo updaters are now too large to burn to CD (well,
you might squeeze the client version on - I haven't tried it) and will
require DVD media if you want to make a backup or transfer copy. (An
additional benefit of using a standalone updater for those with
multiple Macs is that you need only download it once. Once that's done,
you can burn it to a disc, copy it to an external drive, or transfer it
over your network for use on your other Macs.)
Scanning through the published changelog, version 10.5.6 seems to be
mainly a bugfix release for improved reliability of several functions,
such as AirPort, the Address Book, and file synchronization. Graphics
performance has been enhanced for gaming, iChat, Cover Flow, Aperture,
and iTunes. Mail gets performance and reliability fixes, and MobileMe
automated synching has been speeded up. I hope that the not
specifically revealed improved performance and reliability of TCP
connections will help improve spotty dial up performance with email
clients, which has remained a sore point with Leopard for me, albeit
somewhat better with each incremental update. Printing, Parental
Controls, Time Machine, and Safari all get bugfixes and/or
improvements, and there is a new Trackpad System Preference pane for
portable Macs, which would seem to be the most significant change
appearance-wise, at least for 'Book users.
Mac OS X 10.5.5 has been a decent performer on my old 1.33 GHz G4 PowerBook,
although still short of the rock solidness of OS X 10.4.11
"Tiger". I'm hooked on Leopard, though, with Spaces, Quick Look, the
improved Spotlight, and better spell checker being the things I miss
most when running Tiger on my two Pismo PowerBooks, and 10.5.5 is
solid enough that I'm in no particular rush to upgrade, other than for
curiosity.
Preparing for the Update
Before updating, I will to bring my Time Machine backup up-to-date
(easy, and something we should all keep current anyway) and run a set
of system cleaning and maintenance routines - repair permissions, dump
various caches, and so forth with OnyX (more
time-consuming), to ensure that the system being upgraded is shipshape,
which I figure is worth the bit of extra time invested in the interest
of avoiding potential problems with what, for me, is a vital tool of my
trade. I don't believe the world would come crashing down around my
ears if I neglected to execute these preparations, but I like to
proceed with these updates in an orderly and unhurried fashion if
possible.
I'm sure millions of Mac users will opt to just let Software Update
to its stuff, and the vast majority of them will achieve perfectly
successful results, but then there are those who will encounter various
issues that will keep the forums on MacFixIt, MacInTouch, and Apple's
own forum site busy for the next few weeks, as happens after every OS
upgrade or Security Patch release.
It's impossible to know for sure, but I do wonder if the folks
reporting most upgrade woes might have avoided some grief had just
taken the time and effort to clean up their systems and install from a
standalone updater with no other applications running. Historically,
many users have anecdotally reported that they encounter fewer issues
using the standalone Mac OS X Combo updaters than with the incremental
Deltas or Software Update.
Play It Safe
With my somewhat belt-and-suspenders mode of system upgrading, I've
never encountered serious problems (and very few problems of any sort)
with any Mac OS X version upgrade or update, dating back to OS X
10.1, which is where I climbed on board this train. Maybe I would have
done just as well using Software Update (if I had had broadband), but
the thing about precautionary principles is that you take preemptive
action before there is a problem in hopes of preventing problems. If
all goes well, as it has for me taking this approach, at least one has
done no harm.
Actually, I used to also do disk optimizations or even
defragmentation runs using AlSoft's DiskWarrior
utility before running major system upgrades, but I haven't been doing
that for the past couple of years, and so far so good. With today's
larger hard drives, the the time investment involved with that sort of
disk maintenance has become more daunting.
However, some folks think even the amount of pre-update caution I
exercise is unnecessary and a waste of time, and that troubleshooting
sites like MacFixIt and others recommending such measures and sometimes
more are irresponsibly sowing needless FUD.
Mac Night Owl columnist Gene Steinberg has
disparaged those of us who, as he characterizes as employing "a
silly set of voodoo procedures to make sure that the update doesn't
somehow bite them or, at worse, consume their Macs in flames
. . . calling upon ancient deities or throwing tea leaves in
a prescribed direction" for the "excessively paranoid."
I think that's more then a bit supercilious and am more inclined to
agree with the
counsel of MacFixIt (and others) "that Apple's Software Update, as
presently implemented, is inherently dangerous," that it's simply
common sense to to minimize use of the computer during OS
installations, that the full Combo standalone update is a more
fail-safe and superior alternative to the incremental updater offered
by Software Update, and even that it's a good idea to boot the Mac into
Safe Boot Mode (hold down the Shift key during a reboot before running
the installer - note that starting up in Safe Boot Mode takes a long
time, because it runs a media scan during the bootup process, so be
prepared to wait about five minutes or so before the login screen
appears, which it will in Safe Boot even if you have automatic login
configured).
I have to admit that I'm usually a bit lazy about that last one, but
I can only repeat that my anecdotal success with Mac OS X upgrades and
updates has been excellent, although I can't affirm categorically that
my precautionary approach has been key to or just coincidental to
that.
I will concede that most of the time running system and disk
maintenance software, whether preparing for a system update or just as
a housekeeping routine, is an act of faith with no really tangible
evidence to indicate that it's doing anything at all, but sometimes it
does fix obvious problems, which indicates that stuff can go wrong
"under the hood" frequently without any notable symptoms. Whenever I
run Disk Warrior, it almost invariably finds some flies that need
repair.
Troubleshooting
Then there was the time after I updated the second OS X system on my
hard drive (I keep two systems installed on separate partitions,
which allows me to, among other things, check out system updates
without burning my bridges). That proceeded without drama, but I was
slightly pressed for time and decided to skip doing my usual
maintenance preparations as outlined earlier in this article before
running the Combo updater.
The system installed and booted just fine, but I soon discovered
that the Finder's "Find" function was not working (nothing would
happen), and the little third-party text search utility SpeedSearch
could find document titles but was no longer able to display contents
summaries. A similar problem had once manifested on my Pismo PowerBook
running Mac OS X 10.4.4.
I figured I might have to run the system updater again, but I
decided to give OnyX a shot at it first. I ran the cron job scripts,
Repair Permissions, and some selected cache dumps, but omitted
optimizing the system,since the update installer had just done that.
When I rebooted after OnyX had done its thing, both Find and
SpeedSearch had been restored to working normally. That sort of
experience inclines me to believe that a precautionary approach to
system upgrading is more than just paranoia, but whatever floats your
boat.
For more information, about the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update, see About the Mac OS X 10.5.6
Update at apple.com. For standalone installer downloads, go to
Apple's software download
page or the
specific page for the Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update.
And finally, to use Software Update (if you must), choose Software
Update from the Apple menu to automatically check for the latest Apple
software. Note that an update's size may vary from computer to computer
when installed using Software Update. Also, some updates must be
installed prior to others, so you should run Software Update more than
once to make sure you have all available updates.
