If you don’t want to leave Software Update to install updates automatically, here are the options for using softwareupdate, SilentKnight and silnite instead.
Software Update
You might want an old macOS or OS X installer to build a Virtual Machine, or for an old Mac. Here’s how to get them, and old versions of Xcode.
The macOS 12.1 update is the smallest x.1 update since High Sierra 10.13.1 in October 2017, over four years ago. How come it has bucked the trend in Big Sur?
For those who want macOS updates promptly, SilentKnight can be a help. But don’t use it to download and install an update.
What to do when SilentKnight offers you large macOS updates, or updates which you don’t want to install just yet, and other problems.
Full macOS installers come in different presentations according to how they’re obtained. Explained here are what’s in an installer app, and how a bootable installer disk works.
In macOS 11.5.1, Apple has squeezed a thimbleful of a patch into a ten-gallon can of update, more than 99% of which is overhead.
Details of how the Content Caching server handles a cache macOS security data update, and both client and server handle an App Store update.
Using Activity Monitor and command tools to assess performance of a content caching server, and diagnosing problems from the log.
Big Sur updates have far exceeded those of Mojave or Catalina, and are set to total well over 40 GB. Prospects for security updates are no better, with a high carbon footprint.
