A nicer Software update tool

@jhuls and @strayer when the machine reboots hold down the option key and boot into the Macintosh HD, after the update it is still trying to load the MacOS installer, after you boot into the Mac HD go ahead and sign in and reboot again, it will load the Macintosh HD this time!!! Apple needs to fix their updates. @Cayde-6 I will force shutdown and see if that eliminates the issue, ty Cayde-6!!!

@Taboc741 I was hoping you could throw and eye on this. I setup the script based on your instructions and was hoping this is the correct output. It seems to be throwing a weird error.

• Stared out private info.

Checking for policies triggered by "recurring check-in" for user "neil"...
Executing Policy Computer Name
Submitting log to https://******.jamfcloud.com/
Executing Policy Software Update
Running script AppleUpdateDefer1.sh...
Script exit code: 0
Script result: 2019-Jul-01 19:44:14 : Script Started
/Library/Application Support/JAMF/tmp/AppleUpdateDefer1.sh: line 80: [: 3: unary operator expected
No new software available.
2019-Jul-01 19:44:20 : No updates pending. Setting plist remainingDeferral to 3.  It was 3.  Exiting
Retrieving inventory preferences from https://******.jamfcloud.com/...
Locating applications...
Locating accounts...
Locating package receipts...
Searching path: /Applications
Locating software updates...
Locating printers...
Locating hard drive information...
Locating hardware information (Mac OS X 10.14.5)...
Submitting data to https://******.jamfcloud.com/...
<computer_id>2</computer_id>

Checking for patches...
No patch policies were found.
Submitting log to https://******.jamfcloud.com/

Specifically, these look kind of strange.

/Library/Application Support/JAMF/tmp/AppleUpdateDefer1.sh: line 80: [: 3: unary operator expected
No new software available.
2019-Jul-01 19:44:20 : No updates pending. Setting plist remainingDeferral to 3.  It was 3.  Exiting

@neil.rooney I'm taking a look, though looking at my source I don't see why a unary exception would occur there. Also this weird testing for null variables as an error before it complains coupled with the deprecation of BASH in Catalina has me working to rewrite the whole tool into another language that will have future support.

Is your Line 80 still

[[ -z $remainDeferrals ]] && remainDeferrals=$default

After editing in your org info?

@Taboc741 not exactly line 80 but this line exists.

I mean the script works, it just throws this weird error.

I am having an issue with the deferral script. It prompts the user saying that there is a update available. Once you click defer, it properly calculates it (we have it set to 5 deferrals, so it recalculates it to 4). However, the second time it prompts the user and if they click defer again, then it resets the counter (it writes 4 to the plist).

Is there an issue with the defer script from the github?

2019-Jul-30 13:05:43 : Script Started
2019-Jul-30 13:06:05 : Icon path set to /Library/Application Support/[redacted]/AppleSoftwareUpdate.png
2019-Jul-30 13:06:05 : Deferral set to 3
2019-Jul-30 13:06:25 : Updates downloaded
2019-Jul-30 13:16:32 : prompt equaled 2. 0=Start Updates 1=failed to prompt 2=User choose defer 239=exited Null=user force quit jamfHelper
2019-Jul-30 13:16:32 : Script Started
2019-Jul-30 13:16:53 : Icon path set to /Library/Application Support/[redacted]/AppleSoftwareUpdate.png
2019-Jul-30 13:16:53 : Deferral set to 2
2019-Jul-30 13:17:17 : Updates downloaded
2019-Jul-30 13:17:29 : prompt equaled 2. 0=Start Updates 1=failed to prompt 2=User choose defer 239=exited Null=user force quit jamfHelper

So I keep getting the prompt twice in a row. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong?

I had the script twice in the policy. Carry on...

Just tested this with the first update to come out for macOS Catalina, but the script is not detecting it.

2019-Oct-15 14:44:55 : No updates pending.

But I definitely have any update pending

Anyone else seeing this?

@chrisgavexperian have a look here, Apple changed the wording on softwareupdate https://github.com/homebysix/install-or-defer/issues/32

Must say that I am VERY glad this does not auto install Catalina.

Has anyone seen
shutdown: can't detach from console
at the end when doing a restart or shutdown?

Needing assistance from anyone with XP getting the Deferral script to run properly. Currently, the script will pick up when a user defers out to the mass, but when it hits max and there are no deferrals left, the script will not force the update. Any thoughts here or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

@Jmazzuca182 - I'm seeing the same error as you when attempting to do a shutdown.

I ended up making a new thread on that error before I saw your response (https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/36398/shutdown-command-in-bash-script-can-t-detach-from-console)

Were you ever able to resolve that issue?

Hello all. Has anyone updated this so it works with Catalina and Mojave? Saw that there was a mention concering the different software argument for Catalina. Does that mean it won't work if run on Mojave?

@tjhall I tweaked the middle section of the script (arund line 96, but I may have added comments or something elsewhere)

##Check if there are any pending OS updates. If not quit to run another day.
updates=`softwareupdate -l`
updatesPending=`echo $updates | grep "Recommended: YES"`

if [[ -z $updatesPending ]] ; then
    updatesPending=`echo $updates | grep Recommended`
fi
if [[ -z $updatesPending ]] ; then
updatesPending=`echo $updates | grep recommended`
fi
[[ -z $updatesPending ]] && updatesPending="none"
sendToLog="Updates equaled 
    $updates
"

This is working for me on both 10.15 and 10.14

hello folks,

Found some issues in the script for Big Sur, so it got a little love this week. The defer portion isn't as needed as it used to be now that Jamf has implemented a couple feature requests. Deferrals in the policy can be based on number of days not just a date in the future. Also though there appears to be a PI in Big Sur, Jamf also now supports the correct reboot method in software updates by policy. Not aware of any issues for this current script on any OS from 10.14 - 11.1, if you find one please mark it on the git hub. Do note, this script does not do major version releases. No jumping form 10.14 to 10.15. It only does minor updates and security updates.

Is there a current posting of this script somewhere? If I am able to use it too?

@cjavallas There is a github link to the updated script at the end of the original post.

Hey, all! Is there a way to get this script working on Big Sur? All of our users that are on Catalina or below work just fine with this script. It appears to work on Big Sur at first, but after restarting, it doesn't actually install the updates, it just prompts immediately to update again after a restart. Is there some kind of special configuration I need to do to get restarts working in Big Sur? The policy I have now just runs the script if they're in a Smart Group that detects if they don't have the most recent updates installed.

@divvypay https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/38269/enforcing-apple-software-updates-in-the-year-2021

Basically anything thats using softwareupdate cli is broken in big sur.

@sdamiano Awesome news haha... Thanks anyway!

@sdamiano I posted a few updates to the git hub back in January and we've not had issues with the update process internally since I switched to the current code. @divvypay are you using the latest version of the script from GitHub?