Three small utilities to work with the macOS version system, now running native on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
version
Discovering what has been updated in a macOS update isn’t easy. In the case of command tools, it’s just impossible.
If you’re running an interpreted/JIT language, Big Sur could return that it’s either 10.16 or 11.0, depending on the version of the environment.
macOS 11.0 will identify itself differently according to the SDK used, and an environment variable does the same for scripts.
How does Big Sur convince older software that it’s macOS 10.16, but to newly-built app it’s macOS 11.0?
If you have scripts or code which check which version of macOS is running, be careful with Big Sur. Is it 11.0 or 10.16?
Apps don’t work like the Finder. Most use ‘safe saves’ designed to prevent a failed save losing the original document. Here’s how they work.
When should you use the Move To menu command in any of Apple’s iWork apps? What advantages does it bring over the Finder?
Document versions can be invaluable, being between Undo and your backups. But they’re also easy to lose. Here’s how to keep them.
Time Machine seems to be the only backup system which also backs up the Versioning database on each volume. Is that useful though?
The Eclectic Light Company 