update install list

Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
296
Reaction score
5
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
A1286 MBP5,3 running 10.9.5, iphone6, Mac mini1,1 A1176 120/2gb
Is there a way to see what was installed from apple? I see a message telling me that updates are available. install now or later. can't seem to find out what was installed/changed/updated. Not that I can do anything about it, but just curiosity.
Thanks
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
It sounds like you are on OS 10.7 or higher? If so, that message is probably in Notification Center letting you know updates are available. Open the App store and click on the Updates tab. This will show you which updates are available. From there you can choose which ones to install.

Edit: Make sure to open the Mac Apps store not the iTunes version that does IOS apps.
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
296
Reaction score
5
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
A1286 MBP5,3 running 10.9.5, iphone6, Mac mini1,1 A1176 120/2gb
yes, you are correct! Funny that the usual red target on the app icon doesn't show those, but shows others. I am running Mavericks on this MBP. Is there a way to see what has already been updated or installed updates? Thanks BTW.
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
The easiest way is to open the App store program again. When you click on the Updates tab part of the screen will show apps that have updates. Just below that list will be any apps a list of any apps (OS updates and App Store purchases) updated in the last 30 days.

I'll have to do some digging around to see where a longer list might be stored.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Apple will only reveal in a general manner what was updated and prefers to keep secuirty matters well and truly to themselves and rightly so.
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Look at the root level of the hard drive for System>Library>Receipts. In the receipts folder is a file called InstallHistory.plist. If you double-click that file Finder will try to open it in XCODE. It can be opened in text TextEdit if you open TextEdit first and use the Open command. The entries are there but it can be difficult to wade through the list.

I don't know what happens if this file gets damaged. If I were you I would make copy of the file and open that.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
Why on earth did the Apple Mavericks Developers remove the old, easy to find and use Software Update's "Installed Updates" tab option we had with OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard.

Man, I just had a quick look at my Mavericks InstallHistory.plist with TextWrangler and it'll no doubt scare the begesus out of any beginner and will hard to read and it's full of all kinds of updates.

PS: How come it has so many "Chinese Word List Update" etc. updates listed, and my file is only from Jab 2014?
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Why on earth did the Apple Mavericks Developers remove the old, easy to find and use Software Update's "Installed Updates" tab option we had with OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard.

Man, I just had a quick look at my Mavericks InstallHistory.plist with TextWrangler and it'll no doubt scare the begesus out of any beginner and will hard to read and it's full of all kinds of updates.

PS: How come it has so many "Chinese Word List Update" etc. updates listed, and my file is only from Jab 2014?

I didn't realize that tab had been removed till I went looking for it. Can't tell you too much else about the file yet. This is the first time I have looked at it at all. To be honest I didn't look too often when the tab was there unless I wanted to know the last apps installed for troubleshooting purposes.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
They didn't "remove" it. As explained in post #4 in this very thread, it's available in the Mac App Store -- where all updates from Apple come from. Cleverly "hidden" under the Updates tab.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
They didn't "remove" it. As explained in post #4 in this very thread, it's available in the Mac App Store -- where all updates from Apple come from. Cleverly "hidden" under the Updates tab.


You are just joking right???

At least from what my Mavericks App Store shows, that list is almost completely useless as to all the updates that have been done, and as post #4 says - "...updated in the last 30 days."

The old SL list could be scrolled to show all updates with all the dates since the OS X was installed.

Way more useful and handy - and complete!

At least the App Store "Purchases" gives a partial list of installed apps with date of release and then assume that any updates available have been done.
 

vansmith

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2008
Messages
19,924
Reaction score
559
Points
113
Location
Queensland
Your Mac's Specs
Mini (2014, 2018, 2020), MBA (2020), iPad Pro (2018), iPhone 13 Pro Max, Watch (S6)
PS: How come it has so many "Chinese Word List Update" etc. updates listed, and my file is only from Jab 2014?
That's likely (this is speculation though) because the OS X updates ignore your chosen language and update all language packs in case the system language does change.
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
I need to look a little closer at my InstallHistory,plist file to be sure but I think it also list third-party updates. I saw one or two in there yesterday that I don't remember downloading from the App Store. Haven't had time to double check that though.

@pm-r Can you shed some light on this? If not I'll try to look at mine later today. Frankly though it's such a mess to read it gives me a headache.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
Well Slydude, I did a quick look and also cheated for some other info with a Google search on just "InstallHistory.plist" and came across some interesting stuff.

Looking at my InstallHistory.plist with the old "Property List Editor" it shows I have 123 "installed" items which are dated from Dec 2, 2013 to present. The first for "OS X 10.9" to the latest for "iTunes 11.3" Jul 16, 2014 which all makes sense as I just did the iTunes update last night.

In between with a quick glance seems to be everything, even non-apple stuff that I gather is installed with the installer. Not much sign of any "click and drag to your Applications folder" type stuff - unless there was an appropriate update and done with some installer.

BTW: An interesting I discovered in Safari to do a search, when I entered /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist and hit enter, it took me to the file on my hard drive. sort of neat and something that I didn't know. It works almost better than "Go to folder.... ;)

Now if you really want to get blown away and getting back to the topic, have a look and try some of the Terminal suggestions from here:
how to check what’s been installed on your mac |

I tried the first suggestion in Terminal:
cat /private/var/log/install.log | open -f
and holy moley!!!

It provides a nice dated list but waaay more info than needed and it would probably take me a few hours just to scroll through quickly.

So bottom line and to skip all the crap, yes, the /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist file does seem to list all OS X installs that were done with the OS X installer. And all includes Apple's stuff and non-apple stuff.

I hope this helps. And sorry to babble on so much...

Have fun looking if and when you get to your 'round toit. ;)
 

Slydude

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
17,596
Reaction score
1,072
Points
113
Location
North Louisiana, USA
Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
Wow. Excellent info there. My suspicion that it included third-party, non App store, software seems to have been correct. I thought I'd seen a few when I looked at my list earlier.

As far as Apps that you just drag to the Application folder, I wasn't expecting to see them in the list. The last two of those I installed were not in my list unless I missed them. I think the system treats them as a file copy operation so no direct reason for the install history.plist to know about them. Unless it was ale tracking what apps triggered GateKeeper. Even GateKeeper might be off a bit if the user has chosen to allow installs from anywhere.

BTW I have lots of 'round toits. I just seem to get distracted by other things while looking for them.:Mischievous:
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top