Q: Software Update service - Cannot remove / disable specific updates

Hi,

I am facing an issue with the Software Update service: the Server app does not take into account my requests to remove or disable an update.

What happens:


1. In the Server app -> Software Update -> Updates tab, if I select an "Enabled" update and select "Disable", the update is set to "Disabled". Then it switches back to "Enabled" next time I open the Server app.


2. In the Server app -> Software Update -> Updates tab, if I select an "Enabled" update and select "Remove", the update disappears from the list ... to reappear as "Enabled" the next time I open the Server app.

So I cannot remove old updates we do not need anymore, making impossible to recover storage space on the drive we use to store updates.

Info & Settings:

- Mac Pro (Early 2009)

- OS X 10.11.3


- using Server app 5.0.15


- Software Update service set to "Manual" (we do not wish to reflect all Apple updates to clients, only the ones we need)


- Service has a green dot "Available on your local network at *servername*"


- Clients do receive the enabled updates


- In Updates tab, some updates are Available (available from the Apple Updates Server, but not downloaded), some are Enabled (what we want)

- In Updates tab, option "Automatically download new updates" is not checked (what we also want)


What I tried:

1. Restart server app does not help (as explained above)

2. Restart server computer -> same issue

3. Issue occurred while running a previous version of the Server app; so updated Server.app to latest version (5.0.15) but this did not help.

4. Turned Software Update service to OFF, tried to Disable / Remove, then turn Software Update service back ON -> seems to work for some updates (when I tried to remove OS X 10.4.11 update and OS X 10.11.1 update, they remain in the list as "Available" as I was used to). But this does not solve the issue because these updates still behaves as described above (whatever I disable or remove those, they reappear as "Enabled" the next morning).

5. Spotted the issue while server was running OS X 10.11.2. Updated to OS X 10.11.3 ->  still same issue.


6. Enabled the PurgeUnused setting using Terminal command:

    sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin settings swupdate:PurgeUnused = yes

   Unfortunately issue remains.

7. Checked swupdate logs at /Library/Server/Software Update/Logs/

swupd_syncd.log shows the following when checking for new updates

Jan 29 15:59:35  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: Updating local catalog: index-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

Jan 29 16:02:49  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: * Auto-copy options are OFF. No products were changed.

Jan 29 16:02:49  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: * Auto-enable option is OFF. No products were changed.

followed by a list of lines like this (where Product xxx-xxxxx are all different):

Jan 29 16:02:49  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: Product 031-1946 is no longer available and has no replacement.

and sometimes a line like this one

Jan 29 16:02:50  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: Previously copied product 031-42281 missing from local storage. This product will be re-download.

Then after all catalogs were checked and updated, swupd_syncd.log states

Jan 29 16:17:29  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: Updating product updates information

Jan 29 16:17:31  swupd_syncd[29221] <Info>: Starting product update downloads

Seems like OS X Server still has a list of "previously copied products" I can't get rid of.

8. Running the following command in Terminal provides Software Update settings, but cannot spot anything weird there. (Except that the setting I added in step 6 (PurgedUnused) does not appear. But should it ?)

sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin fullstatus swupdate

swupdate:state = "RUNNING"

swupdate:lastChecktime = 2016-02-01 02:00:04 +0000

swupdate:autoMirrorOnlyNew = no

swupdate:syncServiceState = "RUNNING"

swupdate:startTime = 2016-01-29 13:08:54 +0000

swupdate:lastProductsUpdate = 2016-02-01 02:14:52 +0000

swupdate:logPaths:swupdateServiceLog = "/Library/Server/Software Update/Log/swupd_syncd.log"

swupdate:logPaths:swupdateErrorLog = "/Library/Server/Software Update/Log/swupd_error.log"

swupdate:logPaths:swupdateAccessLog = "/Library/Server/Software Update/Log/swupd_access.log"

swupdate:pluginVers = "10.11.111 (111)"

swupdate:checkError = no

swupdate:autoEnable = no

swupdate:updatesDocRoot = "/Library/Server/Software Update/Data/"

swupdate:hostServiceState = "RUNNING"

swupdate:autoMirror = no

swupdate:numOfEnabledPkg = 807

swupdate:servicePortsAreRestricted = "NO"

swupdate:numOfMirroredPkg = 807

swupdate:setStateVersion = 1

swupdate:syncStatus = "DONE"

swupdate:readWriteSettingsVersion = 1


9. Ran out of ideas, and decided to call for help with this post ... Message in a bottle ?

Deleting all updates and resetting the service would be a pain ... as we would need to redownload all updates.

Thanks in advance to anyone posting something ... anything helpful