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Creating root-level directories and symbolic links on macOS Catalina
One of the changes which came with macOS Catalina was the introduction of a read-only root volume for the OS. For users or environments which were used to using adding directories to the root level of the boot drive, this change meant they could no longer do that.
To address this need, Apple added a new method for creating directories at the root level which leverages Apple File System’s new firmlink functionality. Firmlinks are new in macOS Catalina and are similar in function to Unix symbolic links, but instead of only allowing travel one way (from source to destination) firmlinks allow bi-directional travel.
The use of firmlinks is exclusively reserved for the OS’s own use, but Apple has also made available what are called synthetic firmlinks. These synthetic firmlinks are how the OS enables folks to create directories and symbolic links on the read-only boot volume. For more details, please see below the jump.
Session videos from Jamf Nation User Conference 2019 now available
Jamf has posted the session videos for from Jamf Nation User Conference 2019, including the video for my “MDM: From Nice-To-Have to Necessity” session.
For those interested, all of the the JNUC 2019 session videos are available on YouTube. For convenience, I’ve linked my session here.
Identifying vendors of installed Java JDKs using Jamf Pro
Since Oracle’s license change for Java 11 and later took effect in October 2018, where Oracle announced that they would now be charging for the production use of Oracle’s Java 11 and later, the number of open source (and free) OpenJDK distributions has increased dramatically.
Before the license change, most Mac admins would only install Oracle Java on those Macs which needed Java. Now, the list of available vendors has broadened to include the following:
Note: There may be even more OpenJDK distributions available for macOS, but these are the ones I know of.
To help Jamf Pro admins keep track of which vendors’ Java distributions are installed on their Macs, I’ve written a Jamf Pro Extension Attribute to help identify them. For more details, please see below the jump.
Slides from the “MDM: From “Nice to Have” To Necessity” session at Jamf Nation User Conference 2019
For those who wanted a copy of my MDM talk at Jamf Nation User Conference 2019, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format.
- PDF – https://tinyurl.com/JNUC2019PDF
- Keynote – https://tinyurl.com/JNUC2019Keynote
For those folks at the talk who were interested in Privileges and ProfileCreator, please see the links below:
- Privileges: https://github.com/SAP/macOS-enterprise-privileges
- ProfileCreator: https://github.com/ProfileCreator/ProfileCreator
AutoPkg recipes for macOS Sierra, OS X El Capitan and OS X Yosemite OS installers now available
Now that Apple has made direct download links available for older OS installers, I’ve written AutoPkg .download and .pkg recipes for the following macOS installers:
These recipes will download the disk images linked to the relevant KBase articles, extract the installer packages stored inside the disk images and rename the disk images and installer packages with the OS name and version number.
One thing to be aware of is that the downloaded installers do not themselves install the relevant version of macOS or OS X. Instead, they install the Install.app for that version of macOS or OS X into the /Applications directory.
The AutoPkg recipes are available via the links below:
Apple moving older macOS installers from the Mac App Store
Apple has started making the following macOS installers available outside of the Mac App Store (MAS).
For each listed OS installer, Apple has direct download links via their relevant KBase article for InstallOS.dmg or InstallMacOSX.dmg disk images.
In turn, these disk images contain installers named InstallOS.pkg or InstallMacOSX.pkg.
These installers do not themselves install the relevant version of macOS or OS X. Instead, they install the Install.app for that macOS or OS X version into the /Applications directory.
Once the relevant Install macOS or OS X app is available, it can be used to install that OS.
The installers for the following macOS versions are still available via the MAS.
They can also be downloaded on macOS Catalina using the softwareupdate tool.
Downloading macOS installers with updated signing certificates on macOS Catalina
As a follow-up to last week’s expiration of the certificate used to sign previously-released macOS installers, Apple has released re-signed macOS installers with the new certificate which is good until April 2029.
For those who archive older macOS installers, this means that the macOS installers in question will need to be re-downloaded. macOS Catalina has added some new functionality to the softwareupdate tool which can assist with this. For more details, please see below the jump.
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