10.3.2 Installations and Safari
I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now, but it always seems to get pushed to the back of the queue. I first wanted to write this after installing 10.3.2. Then I wanted to write it after I wiped clean my hard drive and reinstalled everything, starting with Panther and upgrading to 10.3.2. Now, I’m actually writing it.
Back in September, I wrote about the 10.2.8 installer not finding Safari in my /Applications/Internet folder, instead installing a new version in /Applications. In the comments, some folks agreed with me while others said I should just leave /Applications alone. In the latter group, some folks saying I should use alternative organization methods and others saying I should just Deal With It.
However, I’m stubborn. I continued to move Safari and managed to forget about my previous rant. Eventually, it dawned on me — 10.3.2 included an updated version of Safari, but I was using my hand-moved version. Was I using the old version of Safari or had the Apple installer correctly located Safari and honored the new location?
Well, it turns out that Apple’s 10.3.2 installer found my copy of Safari inside of /Applications/Internet and installed the new version in this location. Likewise, the recently released Safari 1.2 update, which I installed via Software Update, also honored Safari’s new home.
Like I said, I should have written this months ago, but I’m just now getting around to it. A hearty thanks to the Apple installer group for getting this working properly.
February 10th, 2004 at 11:25 pm
Yeah, the moveable apps thing is a new feature in Panther. I wanted to mention that during your original rant, but unfortunately was bound by that nasty NDA :-(.
February 10th, 2004 at 11:38 pm
Yeah, they’re pesky, but not worth breaking 🙂
Besides, it’s like the computer geek version of unwrapping a present!
March 4th, 2004 at 6:27 pm
Apple’s Installer has supported installation packages which search for old installations to update (rather than hardcoding paths) since 10.2, but they added a lot of important enhancements in 10.3 which make this feature a lot more usable. See Apple’s documentation.
I guess they’re finally using this feature in their software update packages. It’s about time!