Get OS Build Version via Extension Attribute

[cfritzy]

I can see that you can pull the OS Build version by running "sw_vers -BuildVersion" from Terminal. I would like to gather the output of this or all the info from "sw_vers" as an extension attribute to build smart groups on. What would be the best way to get this into extension attributes? I see you can build it via a script but still getting into OS X scripting and any help would be appreciated.

[mm2270 · Accepted solution]

Define a variable in your script that has the command run that gets that information as its result. In the Extension Attribute you echo back the above variable contained within <result> & </result> tags surrounded in quotes. Make sure to use the variable name with a "$" in front within the echo line

#!/bin/sh
OSbuild=`sw_vers -buildVersion`
echo "<result>$OSbuild</result>"

[franton]

What mm2270 suggests will work, but I'm curious why you need this as an extension attribute? This info is reported separately in the inventory, certainly in Casper 8.62.

[mm2270]

@franton, yep, it shows up in the details section of a computer inventory. For some reason though you can't add a column displaying it in a search, unless I'm just missing it.
And the trick to actually building a query or a Smart group on that information is to just use the "OS Configuration Information > Operating System Version > is" or "is like" and then the build version string, such as "11G63" for all 10.7.5 Macs. It'll pull them up, but again, you can't display the column in a search result. The OP may want to have that for overall reports and the EA would give him that ability.

[cfritzy]

Worked like a charm! Thank you very much! I can tweak this a bit to get other results as well.

Thanks again!

[cfritzy]

I was trying to build a Smart Group with the actual OS build numbers as some people have 10.8.2 and some don't have Supplemental Update 2 and wanted to target those and didn't see a way to build the Smart Group based on build number

[mm2270]

@cfritzy, as I said, its not so obvious, but it should work to plug the build you are or aren't trying to match into the "OS Configuration Information > Operating System Version > is" under criteria. It does work, at least in most cases.

[cfritzy]

I'll give it a shot. I am running 8.62 so I will try it out. Thanks again all for the information, very helpful!

[chris_kemp]

Good stuff. I did a similar thing here to re-create the OS X version with an indicator of whether the machine is running in 32- or 64-bit mode.