New version of macOS Catalina supplemental update now available

Apple has modified and re-uploaded the macOS Catalina Supplemental Update from October 15, and has reissued it on Monday afternoon for reasons unknown.

Six days after releasing a supplemental update for macOS Catalina, Apple has rolled out a new version of the same Supplemental Update. Release notes haven't changed.

Apple says that beyond fixes for an iCloud Login problem, the update will improve installation reliability on computers with low available space, rectifies a Setup Assistant completion problem that was forcing users to restart their machine during the initial login, resolves an iCloud Terms and Conditions acceptance issue, and improves the reliability of iCloud saves of Apple Arcade data. It does not appear that there are any security updates at all in the update.

Already-updated machines do not need the new version, according to sources inside Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. It isn't presently clear why the new version is needed.

Following months of beta testing, Apple's macOS Catalina was released on October 7. Among the most notable changes are Sidecar allowing an iPad to be used as a second screen, the split of iTunes into several applications, and the death of 32-bit applications.

25 Comments

sergioz 338 comments · 12 Years

About 5 years ago

Now that Mac OS in separate partitions, what security update could they make?

lostkiwi 640 comments · 18 Years

Yeah I had that Setup Assistant completion problem when updating.
It was a little bit freaky but a second attempt got It done.

dewme 5737 comments · 10 Years

Whew, I just checked Software Update on my main machine and was pleased to find out that I do not have to update again. At least not yet.

The first couple of weeks with Catalina have been very annoying. I haven't lost any data that I know of but having to log into iCloud and my iTunes AppleID several times, resync my music, resync my photos, re-download album artwork, re-download books, reinstall XCode from scratch, and come up with workarounds to compensate for apps that suddenly no longer work correctly, e.g., Noiseless, has not been fun.

I hate to throw the "s-word" around, but Apple has been downright Sloppy with this release. As a developer, I'm sure that having to push out a patch (or a "supplement" if you want to obfuscate reality behind a sugary term) immediately after the general release is gut wrenching. But now we're talking a patch to the patch. If you live in a rural area with poor road maintenance, which comes down to most of the US, you know how annoying it is when the road maintenance department starts patching the holes that have formed in the previous generation of patches that were put in over the original potholes. Yeah, it's a sloppy mess made even worse by third, fourth, and fifth generation patches all piled on top of one another. Catalina may start to resemble one of those sloppy, multigenerational, patchy roads if they don't clean up their act very soon.

ElCapitan 372 comments · 6 Years

The saga goes on...

dewme said:

As a developer, I'm sure that having to push out a patch (or a "supplement" if you want to obfuscate reality behind a sugary term) immediately after the general release is gut wrenching.

It is not the first time around they push a major iOS version and then immediately an update. It has all to do with the logistics of getting millions of new phones into the market, and these obviously have to be produced a bit upfront if they are to be available in major geos at launch. So they inject these with the GM with known issues that they cannot get around to fix unless they stall the entire production pipeline. Which is why they immediately push an update with a batch of fixes that can be applied once the phone is in customer hands.

But I agree, when there are multiple such updates in very short succession there are fundamental issues, and primarily a testament to a product release cycle that is too tight for quality work.
Also, I am not entirely sure the public beta cycle is productive, as it will create a lot of noise and distractions for the developers.