Download Newest Installer App?

bmarks
Contributor II

Am I missing something? I have a dev account, and when I redeem the code to get a beta OS installer, my account seems forever stuck downloading that version from the App Store. For example, if I redeem the code when beta 1 is released, beta 1 is all the I can get from the App Store and new codes ever show up to be redeemed for later versions for my dev user What we have resorted to, since we have multiple team members as part of our dev account, is we make sure each of us saves their redeemable code until later betas are released.

This is less than ideal if you rely on AutoDMG to create your base images because you potentially end up in a situation where you have to download a ton of combo updates after your base image is created rather than just creating a base image with the newest installer app.

But, maybe I'm missing something. Thoughts?

10 REPLIES 10

scottb
Honored Contributor

I'm kinda confused on what sounds like mixing betas and the latest release build in the above.

You should be able to go under purchases at any time and get the latest release build from the App Store, which would need no combo/delta updates.
The betas/seeds should show as separate downloads.

Or...are you talking about making a DMG from betas, trying to get the latest beta on a DMG? Probably should get what you want before going further...

I know that Apple does not release new installers during the betas/seeds - usually just a delta. So, aside from AutoDMG not really supporting (I don't think) pre-release OS installers, that would be the only way you could go is by adding deltas.

Apologies if I get this completely wrong...

bmarks
Contributor II

A dev user gets one download code from the dev site. When that user redeems that code, that user from that point forward can only get the beta that was available at the time the code was redeemed. For example...

I redeem my dev code when beta 1 is released. From that point forward, I can only download the beta 1 installer app from the App Store. When new betas are released, the only download I can get is still beta 1 for the installer app.

Another team member on the same developer account can waits until beta 2 is released and then redeems their code. From that point forward, that team member can only download the beta 2 installer app from the App Store.

Yet another team member waits until beta 3... and so on and so forth.

You can definitely use AutoDMG with the beta installer apps. What doesn't work is the "Apply updates" section so you can't add the subsequent combo update for beta 4, for example.

To recap, when creating a test imaging workflow in Casper, it would be ideal for a single dev user to be able to download the latest beta installer apps even after the dev user's initial code has been redeemed in order to use the newest installer apps to create base DMG's via AutoDMG. Our problem is we're out of team members so I can't keep the above process going in order to get future codes for betas 4, 5, 6, 7 etc. We're stuck downloading an installer app that's beta 3 and, at the moment, have no way to get the new one that came out this week.

gachowski
Valued Contributor II

@bmarks Are you 100% sure?

I have not see that behavior and have open tix with Apple about not supplying a full installer for every build.

C

bmarks
Contributor II

Yes, I just reproduced this again. My co-worker re-deemed their code from the dev site yesterday and got beta 3. I logged in as myself on a virgin Mac and went back to Purchases in App Store.app only to receive beta 1. And, on the dev site, it says my code has been redeemed and I can't get another one.

scottb
Honored Contributor

With the seeds, you usually get the initial installer and then deltas. In my experience in that realm, the installers were not full installers sans the first build (normally), so regardless of when I downloaded, I needed to get the deltas after.
Now, I've not had time to do much in the 10.12 program, so maybe they changed it.
It's possible that the dev program works differently too - have not used that for OS X, only iOS.

*Logged into the dev site https://developer.apple.com/download/ and I can download the current installer for beta 4 of 10.12. Can you not access this site? Looks like they are posting up the full macOS installers there. However, when I tried to download in in the App Store, I got the dreaded "this code has already been redeemed". Yuck.

Looks like they don't take into consideration the need to test on a dev workflow the way it's setup. If it makes you feel better, there's others on the dev forums asking for same. I've asked someone at the seed place if there's a way to get this. Will post back anything I learn.

bmarks
Contributor II

Exactly. I can see Beta 4 at https://developer.apple.com/download/ but the redemption code never changes. When Beta 5 is released, you may notice the same thing. That's how I've gotten around this until now because each team member of mine has a unique code, so as long as we plan for this, we can redeem each of our codes after each beta is released. However, I only have 3 team members with dev access, so our workaround won't work going forward. I emailed our Apple rep at the same time I initiated this post, and she just verified this is expected functionality. It seems like the solution would be simple, just generate new download codes for each beta. I wonder what the reasoning is behind this behavior.

scottb
Honored Contributor

@bmarks, with the seed program, you can request a new redemption code. Wish that they allowed that for dev too. I've got a pending post asking if there's any other route.

bmarks
Contributor II

So, I tried that too, but with the seed program it seems like the codes are limited to a specific build. I'll try manually using that code, but I'm not optimistic.

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scottb
Honored Contributor

Yep, same result here too. Hoping the  chaps chime in and give us a final answer...
The AppleSeed page tells you to "save the installer if you need to install on multiple machines". Guessing that's what they'll say...

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scottb
Honored Contributor

@bmarks,

So it is what it is from the answers I got.
What you could do is have a test Mac and install the image, then update and make a DMG using ASR.
Guess that's what we'll do for now. Or one could do that on an external HDD/ASR.