Install "Pro" application updates through command line?

CCan't you just copy the apps onto the machines without going through the App Store? That's what we do for trade shows.

> Can't you just copy the apps onto the machines without going through the App Store?

That's a potential solution, but I can see how this might cause some problems (permissions problems in our managed/restricted user accounts, for one).

Is there any way to find out if/why Apple has stopped making the pro application updates available through the softwareupdate command? I know that the app store is a front end/GUI version of the command, but it would be sheer **** to manage Macs if Apple moves everything in this direction (forcing the use of the App store, if this is the case). I manage hundreds of Macs in various labs. The softwareupdate command makes it really simple to update them. The App store, does not.

Thanks for the reply Tom.

I don't see why you would have a permissions problem. The application has no serial number and makes no network check.

> I don't see why you would have a permissions problem. The application has no serial number and makes no network check.

I work with managed iMacs in several computer labs, and as anyone that works in this type of environment can tell you, Parental Controls/permissions can be a nightmare to deal with. But I digress....

This is a work around to a problem that shouldn't even exist Tom. The point is that Apple's apparent decision (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) not to make these updates available through the command line (as they were in the Final Cut Studio days) takes no account of the difficulty this causes to those managing these applications across multiple media labs with hundreds of Macs in them. I tried your suggestion, btw, and copied the updated apps onto 1 of the computers to test. These are managed computers with restricted accounts (high school students) and FCP X and compressor would not work (permission errors pertaining to components of the apps kept coming up from the non-admin accounts). Tried it on a second computer, the same. Had to spend time hunting down the parental control errors and solutions to fix them and just decided it would be easier to go to each computer in the lab, log into the app store, and download the individual updates from each computer (exactly what the problem command line would avoid).

Does Apple really expect people managing computer labs to have to log into the app store on each individual computer to update them? This is ridiculous.

This is something that I could have done by sending a command out through remote desktop at the end of the day and be done with it.

Is there any way to provide feedback about this or to at least get confirmation that these updates are no longer available through the softwareupdate command? Really hoping that I'm wrong about this.

Thanks for the suggestion Tom.

You only need to activate an admin account to initialize the machine. Once that done, you don't need anything else.

Feedback is available from the Final Cut Pro menu.