Here we go again....10.6.7 doesn't kill anything

Apple's descriptions of the revisions made by OS updates are generally accurate but far from complete. The only sure way of knowing if something still works as it did prior to an update is to test it with that update.

?

I am running on a 10.6.7 base install. I made an audio and DNS mod and of course I disabled
the App Store. Other than that, its all 10.6.7. I don't run the last two Java updates because of
some compatibility problems with existing java programs I use frequently. This is my everyday
installation that runs daily. It may run for days without a reboot or being shutdown.

The mods I made have undergone months of testing already. I have created my own packages
for easy installation or reinstallation.

Nuke The App Store project has been under constant development since the app store was
introduced. It has now matured into an incredibly simple but powerful fix that takes away
nothing from the 10.6.6/7 experience.

I created the mDNSResponder package in response to DNS problems experienced by some
users of 10.6.5, including myself.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12683257#12683257
10.6.6 and later fixed most of the 10.6.5 DNS issues, but I just recently ran into a DNS issue
that still exists in 10.6.6/7, when repeatedly logging in and out of ftp accounts on web hosting
servers. It would lock me out after I logged in and out few times with a server not found error.
flushing the DNS cache would fix it for a little while until it decided to do it again. Just for
grins I installed the my old 10.6.5 patch and lo and behold, it worked great. As a bonus,
some websites I frequently visit are now loading faster, especially when using Safari.

I have multiple bootable installations for testing purposes. I have both 10.5 and 10.6 test
installations in various flavors.

The audio mods are the result of booting into early flavors of SL (10.6.0-10.6.2) and discovering
how much better audio sounded on those versions. 10.6.2 and 10.6.4 audio kexts deliver the
best sounding audio on my machine. Now whether this is specific, just to the era of audio hardware
installed on my machine, I don't know. I just know it works for me. I have not publicly released any
fixes for this issue.
The kexts I substituted are the IOAudioFamily.kext and AudioAUUC.kext (from 10.6.2).

Kj

Sorry about that, my bad. I misread your post and thought you hadn't updated due to your audio settings.



-mj

a brody wrote:
I have not heard of any significant changes that would make my answers flawed.

I see what you mean. Your page you linked to on Kernel Panics includes text and graphics from the KB article updated to 2009. The only update to the original KB article (Old Article: 106227 "OS X 10.2 and later") was to say later OS were affected.

There is a new KB article specifically for KP in OS X 10.6

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8965.html

Most people say you shouldn't monkey around with OS updates, but nobody monkeys around
with OS updates more than Apple. Take their video drivers for instance. Between 10.6.3 - 10.6.5
updates, their updates broke video on quite a few various machines depending on what video
card was installed.

It would be quite foolish not to install every update that came along, if all Apple did was to improve
on already existing OS components, but almost every time, especially lately, they are reinventing the
wheel at almost every OS update. Since 10.6.0, they have totally overhauled Safari, iTunes, Open CL
video, DNS support, Audio support and added the App Store, just to name a few.

I make doubly sure now, that I have a good backup, before installing an SL OS update of any flavor.
I sneak up on updates now, I don't let them sneak up on me.

Kj

KJK555 wrote:
Most people say you shouldn't monkey around with OS updates, but nobody monkeys around
with OS updates more than Apple.

Not sure I'd call it monkeying around...

Being one of the beta testers for new updates and upgrades I can tell you the OS is tested throughly on all sorts of hardware configurations. Apple doesn't take it lightly.

I make doubly sure now, that I have a good backup, before installing an SL OS update of any flavor.

NO ONE should be without 1, or 2 😉



-mj

KJK555 wrote:
I created the mDNSResponder package in response to DNS problems experienced by some
users of 10.6.5, including myself.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12683257#12683257

This is a good example of blaming an OS update for something it almost certainly didn't cause & "fixing" it by creating a hacked, unsupported OS that is likely to cause problems with subsequent OS updates. mDNSResponder has nothing to do with resolving domain names into IP addresses for browsers. As explained here, it implements the Bonjour "zero configuration" network discovery system service. It is not involved in normal DNS resolution.

From what you say here & in the other thread, your DNS problems (which were not quite the same as the ones the OP of the other thread mentioned) are more likely caused by something you added to your system. My guess would be the AdSweep ad-blocking software, a "use at your own risk" javascript-based add-on that reportedly can cause the symptoms you mentioned with certain web pages.

Likewise, if Apple's Java updates cause problems with certain Java-based apps, it is most likely due to problems in those apps that need to be resolved. Hacking the OS by mixing system files from different versions or avoiding certain updates altogether in effect creates a separate branch of the OS that Apple doesn't test or support. At best, it is a short term workaround for something that users can't otherwise figure out how to fix, but it is not a substitute for proper diagnostic procedures or something that users should rely on if they want a stable, secure, & sustainable OS.

RC-R: mDNSResponder has nothing to do with resolving domain names into IP addresses for browsers....

No. That information is way out of date; that's the way it used to work pre-10.6. In SL it is now responsible for DNS resolution. It used to be possible to disable mDNSResponder with no ill effects. Try that now and you won't be able to go anywhere on the net.

That must be an old article you linked.

Mac OS X v10.6 uses the mDNSResponder process for unicast DNS (Domain Name System) functions, as well as Bonjour functions. Disabling the mDNSResponder process will also disable unicast DNS resolution, and without unicast DNS resolution, Mac OS X v10.6 cannot resolve hostnames such as www.apple.com.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3789

Some of you guys sure are good at armchair engineering. 🙂 .

First of all, I don't give a fat Rat's rear about James Goslin's Java Garbage.
What's it going to hurt if I don't run the latest version of that crap?
Java is famous for previous version incompatibility. It was even worse in early
versions. I usually run version 1.5 without problems for everything.

Firefox runs its own version of java, and that's what I use for most internet browsing.

If my SL installation is so hacked up, then how can it flawlessly run hundreds of apps
including PPC apps and Java apps, both old and new? It takes everything I throw at
and asks for more. It runs for days without kernel panics or needing a reboot doing
real work like imitating web servers, running windows or linux virtual machines,
graphic design, web design, audio and video file editing, and more.

To imply my SL installation is riddled with deep dark disturbing problems is absolutely absurd.
There may be something surfacing here, riddled with deep dark disturbing
problems, but it is not my SL installation. 😉

Kj

☢ "Hail to the King, Baby!" ☢
Duke Nukem Forever is ready for action..

+"Not sure I'd call it monkeying around..."+

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2790894&tstart=0

I don't know exactly what to call it either, but, it appears,
perhaps, the video wheel has been reinvented yet again.

Kj

WZZZ wrote:
That must be an old article you linked.

Apparently so. I stand corrected on that, but I still believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with mDNSResponder in Snow Leopard that would warrant replacing it with an older version.

Video issues do seem to appear in each update. Seems that they fix one issue,
then others come up. Mac Mini has seemed to get hit often. Somewhere
around 10.6.5 update, it created video studdering issues and broke hardware acceleration.
(Several threads throughout the net on this)
And now, 10.6.7 has broken iTunes HDMI audio. Previous to update, iTunes purchased
movies and imported movies with Dolby tracks played just fine. With 10.6.7, iTunes
purchased Dolby tracks go silent and imported movies with Dolby tracks just plain freeze.

I have experienced these issues, and my system is unhacked and well maintained. Always
repair permissions, disk check/repair, and other maintenance on a regular basis. But, as
way back in the beginning of this thread, I always have a backup plan and can always
revert to a previous state.

But, to continue with the breakage topic....

Along with various other threads that you see about Apple branded applications, it almost
seems that the people developing OSX don't talk to anyone else within Apple. One especially
prominent issue is Macbook Air owners having crashing/freezing/other issues with iTunes
just really stands out.

I user Firefox, too, and have no issues with Firefox, Camino, or Safari, which are the browsers I use daily. O yes, I upgraded to 10.6.7 and have not seen a single issue so far.

😉 cornelius

Yes, you are right. You should, in an ideal world, test every security patch and OS update in a sandboxed environment before applying it to a production machine. But most people don't have time for that, or aren't going to test every conceivable option in a test setup.
Also, just because someone gets a problem after applying the update, doesn't mean the update caused it. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, and all that.

However, the 10.6.7 has caused a range of people the exact same problem, in an area that was changed in the update. As a result, lots of people are having problems with fonts, printing and PDF creation, particularly with OpenType fonts. (MacUser UK are running a story that this is the case.)
The fact that only some people experience the bug is not necessarily an indicator that the update is blameless. Plenty of bugs affect only some combinations of hardware and software.

Personally, I only backup my data files because they are unique and valuable. If there's a problem with my OS, I'll reinstall from the DVD, rather than a backup of the system which may already contain the seeds of a problem. I've only ever once HAD to reinstall OS X in the last ten years, (and it took an hour over lunch to downgrade from 10.6.7 to 10.6.6).

But let's try not to congratulate ourselves at being superior to teh noobs, just because some people don't have problems with 10.6.7, until all the facts are in.

I've got that beat–I don't even plug them in!