Prevent Software Update failures

Feb 24, '02 10:22:45AM

Contributed by: cjsnell

After applying the 10.1.3 update last night, I fired up Mail.app but couldn't find the SSL option for the life of me. After a bit of investigation, I found the problem: The updates expect the Apple-provided applications to be kept where they were installed. For example, the updater expects Mail.app to be located in /Applications/Mail.app. During an obsessive-compulsive fit last month, I had organized all of my Applications into subfolders. I had moved Mail.app into /Applications/Network. Apparently the OS has no way to keep track of such moves.

If you're obssesive like me, create a /Apps directory and categorize things under there. Leave all apps in /Applications--don't move them. Instead, create aliases (symlinks) to your new Apps directory.

[Editor's note: I would have bet this tip had been published here previously, but I don't believe it has. This is an annoying bug in Apple's current installer, and it's hopefully on their list of things to fix!]

Comments (9)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020224102245532