Mac OS X 10.2.4 Is Out

J. Ventura writes "Mac OS X Update 10.2.4 has been relased. The 10.2.4 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: Address Book, Classic compatibility, Finder, FireWire, Graphics, OpenGL, and Sherlock. It includes AFP and Windows file service improvements, as well as audio, disc recording, graphics, and printing improvements." Get it via Software Update.

Watch your network settings...

[cespi]

Installing 10.2.4 screwed my network settings. I have my Network preferences panel set to "Manually" configure, but after the upgrade, OS X lost it's memory. The panel still showed the settings correctly, and I repeatedly hit "Apply," but it would not set the parameters.

I had to resort to ifconfig, route, and hand editing /etc/resolv.conf

Thanks Apple!

Don't forget...

[mgaiman]

After the update, it is probably a good idea to fix your permissions (which can be done via the Disk Utility).

Much faster

[Rouxfus]

I was about to switch back to Eudora, which I'd been using since 1994. I gave Mail a try for the last couple of months because of the Junk mail filter, but I was starting to wonder if Eudora and Spam Sieve wouldn't give me my speedy email back. Mail was slow changing from email to email.

10.2.4 seems to have fixed the problem - much snappier performance in Mail, and NetNewsWire (going from headline to headline was sometimes sluggish.)

No problems on the update that I've noticed so far...

solid release...

[wtmcgee]

nothing new or revolutionary.... but things just seem to be a bit snappier (i know most people will say, "thats just the prebinding after the install"...), mainly things like redrawing windows when i resize them, or scrolling speeds and what not. also, i'm glad they made address book act like most other os x apps, after you close the app, it still runs in the dock until you close it.

all in all, nothing special, just seems like they squashed a lot of bugs and added some behind the scenes goodness.

not without issues

[Anonymous Coward]

hmmm... trashed my php install on my desktop machine (overwrites httpd.conf) and now my TiBook can't boot because of kernel panics.

I thought I'd be more pissed, but frankly I've had so few update problems with OS X I figure I must be ahead.

I

Re:Yay!

[asparagus]

Forgot to inclue the KB article.

10.2.4 fixes:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n107362 [apple.com]

Re:Don't forget...

[wtmcgee]

definately. this usually makes a huge difference, because things just seem to get screwed up from time to time after big software updates. i don't know enough about all that to know *why* they get screwy, but i do know the first thing i do after a OS update is permission repair.

obviously, if you want to be super 31337, you can just type sudo diskutil repairpermissions / in console.

Changes in httpd.conf

[MonsterChicharo]

The update replaced Apache's httpd.conf and saved the old version as httpd.conf.applesaved. The problem is that the new httpd.conf has the PHP module commented out, and apparently the PHP module is not included. Anyone else having this problem or my installation that is broken?

short list of bugs?

[cpeterso]

I've always been impressed that Apple's patches for Mac OS X fix such a short list of not-too-serious bugs. Microsoft's Windows service packs, on the other hand, often fix hundreds of serious bugs. And Windows service packs seem to get increasingly unstable in later service packs.

Re:iChat Changes

[PeekabooCaribou]

Apple uses a .plist file to add certain things to the Dock. It does stuff like "Change the pathname of this Dock app", or "Insert this app after the Finder". It was probably applied after your update.

I believe it's located in the Dock.app bundle, if anybody wants to poke around.

Re:But Where are my Safari Tabs???

[justzisguy]

They did fix that nasty hang when browsing an SMB volume that is suddenly disconnected.

Re:But Where are my Safari Tabs???

[MonsterChicharo]

No, it has not been fixed. I tested it, and my computer became unresponsive for a while. Trying to umount the device resulted in an error message, yet mount shows it.

It is a nasty bug, alright.

No, this will most certainly not happen...

[daveschroeder]

...to everyone, and the fact that it happened to this one poster is a fluke. As far as that goes, it shouldn't happen to *anyone*, but as with every OS update, there will be a very, very small subset of people who say "it fouled up my x" or "totally screwed my settings for y", but the vast, vast majority of people have no problems at all.

It now includes Apple's mod_rendezvous

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out my HOWTO [against.org] for enabling PHP (written for newbies) and some (scarce) info on Apple's mod_rendezvous.

Re:Changes in httpd.conf

[tweder]

Updating to 10.2.4 replaced my Apache config file too, but simply uncommenting the PHP module in the new httpd.conf fixed it for me.

I'm still running Apple's default PHP build rather than a new compilation.

Re:Mac OS 10.2.4

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Finder is now Cocoa

Oh, boy. Here we go again. Raise your hand if you're unclear on what Cocoa and Carbon mean. Okay, now pay attention:

[localhost:~] twirlip% otool -L Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder
Carbon.framework
QuickTime.framework
PowerPlant.framework
DesktopServicesPriv.framework
URLMount.framework
DiskArbitration.framework
DiskImages.framework
CoreFoundation.framework
IOKit.framework
SystemConfiguration.framework
Security.framework
libSystem.B.dylib

Re:not without issues

[thevil]

It saves a back up of httpd.conf.

Re:Changes in httpd.conf

[wtmcgee]

Reverting the 'new' apache config back to my old apache config with:

cp httpd.conf.applesaved httpd.conf

then restarting apache did the trick.

Re:Java still old

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Apple's Java 1.4.1 is in developer preview now. If you want it, you can get yourself an ADC account-- they're free; sign up here [apple.com]-- and go to the "Download Software" area of the ADC site.

Java 1.4.1 is at developer preview 8 right now, so it's not Sir Crashalot or anything, but it's not finished, either. No lifeguard on duty; swim at your own risk.

Re:What about laptop power management???

[drive]

i had this problem too. many people have. it seems to be a hardware problem with the battery. i took my ibook to the apple store in soho. i told them what was up, they gave me a new battery (under warranty) in 10 minutes and i went home. since then i haven't had any more problems. give apple a call about your problem. you might have to bitch a little but hopefully they'll send you a new battery.

Re:Crap... it killed my PHP setup... again.

[coolmacdude]

It didn't overwrite it. The old file was saved as httpd.conf.applesaved

Re:Broken Softwore Update?

[Xcapee]

OS X Server is a totally different product.

Re:What about laptop power management???

[brass1]

Try resetting the PMU [apple.com]. You'll have to reset the time, but it seems to correct a large number of problems with power management.

Re:Mail bug

[itwerx]

It's actually pretty easy to do if you have your own domain and have a bunch of dummy accounts setup so you can "send as" each one. Whenever you make a new one you have to put in the correct mail server info (so it will send) and it will default to the settings it already knows about from the original account.
It's easy enough to change to something bogus for the username (since one never needs to collect through more than one account, only send) but if you forget you're hosed! The only way to undo your mistake is to backup the mail folder, do your delete and then restore it...
A minor annoyance once one is aware of it but a bit of a pisser the first time.

Re:Mail bug

[Onan]

There's a much easier way to send mail from multiple addresses: in the account config, specify as many addresses as you like, comma-separated. They'll all appear in the account pop-up menu at compose time, using the first by default.

It's quite useful, though I can't imagine how anyone's expected to figure out that it's there. And still not quite as flexible as being able to just edit the From: field directly, of course.

10.2.4 startup panic FIX

[punka]

Those of you that installed Apple's preview IP over Firewire drivers back in the day might have the same problem I did:

Kernel panic upon reboot.

Apparently they broke the kext's support in 'updating firewire'

Just reboot holding down apple-s , that'll drop you into single-user mode, run the obligatory /sbin/fsck -y then /sbin/mount -uw /
then get rid of the FirewireIP kext by
mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireIP.kext/ /
Trash it or do what you will with it after you successfully reboot.
Hope this helps!

Re:Don't forget...

[qengho]

sudo diskutil repairpermissions / in console

I tried that on two of my machines and it quit partway through with errors on both. Running the GUI Disk Utility worked fine, though. Odd.

10.2.4 broke the Linksys WPC54G AirPort2.kext hack

[nsayer]

10.2.4 comes with AppleAirPort2.kext version 3.0.3. This version appears to perform an extra check designed to thwart those of us who have managed to get the 3.0.1 version of the driver to talk to Linksys WPC54G and WMP54G cards.

If you have used this (admittedly unsupported) hack to get 802.11g for older hardware, you might want to move the 3.0.1 kext out of the way and put it back. At least until this extra check is found and neutralized.

Re:10.2.4 broke the Linksys WPC54G AirPort2.kext h

[nsayer]

Well, that didn't take long.

The procedure to get your WPC54G to work with Apple's AirPort2 driver is a little more advanced now (it involves patching the driver), but it once again works.

here [kfu.com] is where you can get the details.

It's the Sound Card Support I'm Interested In

[Spencerian]

I haven't been able to confirm this beyond announcements and bits of scanning, but Mac OS X 10.2.3, and likely 10.2.4, adds basic driver support for the SoundBlaster Audigy and Extigy PCI sound cards.

Some of you may remember that support for the Mac SoundBlaster Live card for OS X has been long in coming. But, perhaps, I'll be able to go home and toss in my SoundBlaster card and get 4.1 surround sound back.

Or, if I had money, I'd just pick up an Audigy card normally branded for PCs, toss it in my Mac, and live the dream, baby. We'll see. Has anyone tried SoundBlaster cards with 10.2.3 or later?

Another Great release...

[musicscene]

After grudgingly downloading this via Software Update (network congestion?)... this installed nicely and blew away a list of bugz that I had personally.

I am running a G3/300 Beige MT with 768MB RAM and OS X is (so far) running very nicely.

So far so good... I too get excited when there are new Apple releases. :)

fixing the little things, too...

[marklark]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, but...

Before I got even partially through booting up, I knew that Apple had fixed a very annoying LITTLE problem they'd introduced with 10.2.3 -- the monitor geometry of my iMac rev A would get lost upon reboot and I'd have to stretch, move, and rotate (slightly) it to my taste.

Now it remembers! I'm sure that very few people have this problem, as it didn't happen on my G4 at home, but it's nice to see that they're keeping up with some of the little things, too. :^)

Re:10.2.4 startup panic FIX

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, just rebooting the machine normally seems to do the trick. But, whatever!

Magical Finder bug of a basically similar color

[atani]

Never saw the bug this update mentions fixing in the Finder, but it appears they've just replaced it with another one:

Step 1) untar a set of files to your desktop via the terminal (possibly using GUI app too?).
Step 2) single-click on one of the files to "verify that it's really there"... it is and is highlighted
Step 3) perform exactly the same untar operation from the command line again
Step 4) single-click on one/any/all of the files to "verify they're really there"... poof! it/they disappear, never to be seen again unless it is via the terminal (or you relaunch the Finder). This also happens if you click-drag to move them or click-drag to highlight multiple, as soon as you release the mouse-click... poof!
Step 5) You're not insane, 'ls' from the terminal and sit back in awe.

biting quips fail me on this one.