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Level 4

3,290 points

Run software update in non-admin account?

I did some searching through past posts, but the most recent one I found was several years old.

Is there any way to run Software Update automatically in a non-admin account? I run in a non-admin account unless there's some task that really needs admin privileges to complete, for security purposes, but having Software Update not run automatically is rather suboptimal for security.

So, is there any way to get Software Update to check for updates automatically from a non-admin account? (I'm not averse to using the crontab or launchd, if necessary—I've never done it before, but given instructions, I'm sure I could figure it out.

Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 256 GB SSD, 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7

Posted on May 31, 2011 4:13 PM

31 replies

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 7, 2011 3:05 PM in response to joshz

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090227092240386 (and http://blog.kaputtendorf.de/2009/02/22/updatecheck/) seem to be a pre-existing tool to do just what I need.

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Jun 7, 2011 4:59 PM in response to joshz

I installed Sven Anderson's tool more than a year ago and it has never worked. It has never given me one notification in all that time.

Let me know if it works for you.

ds store

Level 7

30,735 points

Jun 7, 2011 5:48 PM in response to jsd2

Lingon is free here and it works in Snow Leopard still

http://sourceforge.net/projects/lingon/

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 7, 2011 10:08 PM in response to Király

Király: Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye on it. IIRC, there was an update for iTunes recently, so if I don't get that notification in the next day or so, I'll just use Lingon to do a check weekly or so. (Thanks for the tip, ds store!)

jsd2

Level 5

6,245 points

Jun 8, 2011 5:51 AM in response to ds store

Lingon is free here and it works in Snow Leopard still

The version of Lingon in that download (v1.2) was released in 2006. There was a later free version, but then the developer stopped working on it. He has now resumed its development, and in my view $4.99 for the new version is a bargain that helps support this.

See

http://www.peterborgapps.com/2011/01/im-back/

http://sometimesitmatters.com/post/6172073266/thinking-about-lingon-3

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 8, 2011 11:17 AM in response to Király

So, as it turns out, the applescript had a bug or two in it. (Note: to get this to work, I added "josh ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/softwareupdate" to my sudoers file.)

Here's a fixed version that I'm hoping will work:

set theList to every paragraph of (do shell script "sudo softwareupdate -l")

set updates to ""

repeat with anItem in theList

if anItem starts with " * " then

if updates is not "" then

set updates to updates & return

end if

set updates to updates & (characters 6 thru -1 of anItem)

end if

end repeat

if updates is not "" then

tell application "Finder"

ignoring application responses

display dialog "Software Update available:" & return & updates with title "Software Update available" buttons "OK" default button 1 with icon file ":System:Library:CoreServices:Software Update.app:Contents:Resources:Software Update.icns"

end ignoring

end tell

end if

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Jun 10, 2011 7:12 PM in response to joshz

Any luck with this, josh? Not for me. I tried your changes two days ago and still have not been notified of the iTunes 10.3.1 update.

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 10, 2011 8:07 PM in response to Király

No, it hasn't worked for me, either, which is very strange, given that if I run the Applescript independently it works, and that the task is scheduled in launchd. My only thought now is that perhaps it's somehow not running as me, and that I should change the "josh" in the sudoers file to ALL, but I'm not sure that that makes any sense.

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 10, 2011 10:01 PM in response to joshz

Possible breakthrough: The path in the plist *cannot* have a ~ in it. Try changing that to the absolute path. I just did, and invoking the task via launchctl start de.anderson.sven.updateCheck worked—I'm just going to wait for it to run automatically now.

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 11, 2011 9:35 AM in response to joshz

Hmm…I'm now getting a bunch of these errors in Console when it (sudo softwareupdate -l) runs:
6/11/11 12:30:47 PM Software Update[470] Package Authoring: my.result.title and my.result.message not defined or empty

The correct output is still printed to the Terminal, but the Applescript seems to not be working.

Thoughts?

Message was edited by: joshz

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Jun 11, 2011 10:04 AM in response to joshz

What "~"? My plist file doesn't have one except for in the comments.

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Jun 11, 2011 10:10 AM in response to joshz

Your updated applescript isn't doing anything for me. When I compile and click "run", AppleScript Editor says "running" for about 30 seconds, and then nothing happens after that. No notification of the iTunes 10.3.1 update that I know is there.

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 11, 2011 10:15 AM in response to Király

I know. It *was* working for me, but it suddenly stopped working and now softwareupdate throws the error I mentioned above when I run it.

As for the ~, sorry about that. I had hardcoded in a path for the Applescript and put it in its own file—that's what I was referring to.

EDIT: Software Update threw the same error this morning when I ran it successfully, so that can't be the problem. Odd.

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 11, 2011 10:48 AM in response to joshz

Tentatively, I think the "ignoring application responses" might be the problem. I'm trying it without that (and the "end ignoring") and it seems to be working now.

joshz Author

Level 4

3,290 points

Jun 11, 2011 11:38 AM in response to joshz

Alright, so, as that seems to be working, I modified the Applescript to let the user open Software Update directly:

Here's the Applescript: http://pastebin.com/TgL8zs6P

And here's the plist I'm using: http://pastebin.com/d4axngh7

Run software update in non-admin account?