Upgrade from OS X Mavericks to macOS Sierra - any pitfalls?

[MBP17•David]

Just about to go ahead with upgrading our MBP17 (mid-2010) and MBA11 (late-2010) from OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 to macOS Sierra.
Technically, the spec of both is compatible - 8GB/1.9TB and 4GB/128GB respectively, however I was wondering is there are any [already] known problems (if anyone went this route that is)?

Backups and cloned volumes are in place, as always, but it'll be great to avoid disappointment ;D

I don't think I have anything 'exotic' on my MBP (wife's MBA is pretty much stock anyway), however these older software might cause some concern?:

VMWare Fusion v.5.0.5 - running Mercedes parts database in XP
Oracle VirtualBox v.4.3.28 - a couple of VMs
XQuarts v.2.7.9 running linux KMyMoney 1.0.5 (KDE 3.5.10) - yes, I know it's ancient, and I might have to, finally, pick a native Mac app, as a replacement...
Apache OpenOffice v.3.4.1
Font Constructor v.1.0.1
CCC v.3.5.7

I don't expect any trouble from Adobe CS5, and that's pretty much it, as far as the important stuff is concerned.

Any pointers?

 

[MacInWin]

Look for the latest updates for the software you listed. I know CCC is now at 4.1.10. I suspect VMWare and maybe Vbox will need to be updated as well, given how emulations work. Plus any utilities that amended system files (Total Finder and other Finder add-ons) will stop working because of SIP.

 

[MBP17•David]

Thanks. Updated OO, VB and CCC (£20 - ouch!) ... Now contemplating VMWare (why no free player for Mac?!)

Still need to find out if I can run my KDE app in XQuartz, or start looking for alternatives (to KMyMoney that is). Any recommendations?

Somewhat miffed off that new Mail killed all my five hundreds rules (OK maybe less, but it was a lot!). Any way to extract these from a backup (clone or TM)?

Everything else went without much drama ... Now that I have Pages / Numbers / Keynote, I shall gradually convert my OO files and rid of OpenOffice - they obviously can't keep up with Apple, and LibreOffice just kept crashing on Sierra.

 

[chscag]

Everything else went without much drama ... Now that I have Pages / Numbers / Keynote, I shall gradually convert my OO files and rid of OpenOffice - they obviously can't keep up with Apple, and LibreOffice just kept crashing on Sierra.

Good observation David. Also, I might point out if you or anyone else has software from Sourceforge (open source) it's hit or miss that it will work with Sierra. I spent several hours last night alone hunting down answers to why some of my open source stuff was no longer working right in Sierra. In some cases, sound was no longer working; in others it was the video that went crazy. I don't know what Apple has done with Sierra but whatever it was, it has killed off some pretty good open source stuff. LibreOffice might eventually catch up since they have more folks working on the project than normal open source stuff but in the meantime you can't go wrong with Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

 

[pm-r]

It is strongly stated by Bombich NOT to run a 3.x versions of CCC on any Mac OS after Mavericks, 10.9.x.

If you've ever made a donation, there is discounted upgrade pricing available.

Hope any printers/scanners still work with Sierra.




- Patrick
=======

 

[MBP17•David]

chscag Already converted few of the latest files (about a dozen) from odt and ods - pretty smooth, apart from the fact that, OO suddenly can't see fonts families properly e.g. Avenir only shown in 3 typefaces on its current version, whereby the old 3.xx could see every branch and would present at least 9 if not more variations).

Yes, I tried KMyMoney from Sourceforge and just gave up - installed a Windows version in VB for the time being, and will look for a replacement. The problem is they all way too convoluted and gimmicky, whereas I prefer the 'boring' accountant's layout ...


pm-r CCC v.3 would not even run on Sierra, so had to upgrade. And yes, that was a discounted price - £19.12 incl 20% VAT
No problem with printers, and my old Epson V500 works fine with Sierra too.


However, I now have to buy VMWare 8, as Mercedes software won't run in VB, and VMW5 won't instal in Sierra

 

[Nighthawk4]

VM Fusion is currently offering 8.5 I think. Seems very expensive as an upgrade, since I only bought v8 a few months ago.

Incidentally, can I install Sierra in a VM on Fusion 8 or would I have to go up to 8.5 for that?

 

[chscag]

Not sure I would purchase VMWare Fusion any version as the company is on shaky grounds with lots of rumors floating around of them going out of business or being bought out. The problem is that Parallels while more popular will nickel and dime you to death with their expensive upgrades every 6 to 12 months or so. At least VirtualBox is still free, albeit not very robust.

 

[MBP17•David]

I thought DELL bought them?
I am reluctant to spend almost £40 on what basically is a single vm with a single app (and a pdf printer).
It'd be perfect to have a VM Player, but there's none for Mac. I might try a vm inside vm - to see if it'll instal inside a VB machine


On the main subject: still not happy with having to recreate all Mail rules (any way to extract these from backup/clone?).
There are a few dead apps (utilities) in Launchpad I would love to remove.
The Terminal had filed for divorce, and now shows me as UNKNOWN:~ david$ After all those years together!

 

[MBP17•David]

Well, it was worth it, if only just for this:

;D

 

[MBP17•David]

Revisiting this thread with a few observations - might be useful for someone, facing a similar decision: MacBook Pro 17" mid-2010 running Mavericks 10.9.5 to Sierra.

This is, most likely, the last available upgrade for the model/year, so after consideration, I decided to go ahead, as the MBP is running perfectly, not a single hardware problem, neither battery not graphic card, and with two 960GB SSDs (and possible upgrade to 2TB each), it still got plenty of life left.

There were no errors or problem during actual upgrade. Backup of install app saved to a couple of external drives and USB created, as always.

I've been running Sierra now for about 10 days, so far:

I miss a few [minor] things, some because the TotalFinder is no longer working due to SIP, some I suspect, by [Sierra] design:

• ⌘X no longer works in Finder, only when editing text, etc (and yes, I know about option⌘V)
• Copy Path -- Terminal Path (among others) is gone
• "Show Details" in message view in Mail is no longer global, nor remembered
• When you return to a tab in Finder, it doesn't remember your last view and starts at the top (okay, it does for a short while, but not say, next day or after several hours - I didn't actually timed it)
• I put a Time Capsule connection into a permanent tab in Finder, to keep it active, otherwise I had to click on "Connect As" every time

One other [already documented] issue affecting MBP17 mid-2010 (6,1), as well as some 2011 models, is the missing Terminal (well, the entire menu) in Recovery boot.
Neither internet recovery, nor USB stick tricks work. Which made a simplest thing, like changing the trash can icon, a very fiddly affair. Got there in the end, of course.
Hopefully, Apple will release an update, to fix the Recovery boot for the affected models soon.

BTW, not a problem on MBA11 late-2010 - full macOS Utilities menu in Recovery, as it should be.

I believe, the iPhoto app was supposed to be replaced with Photos? That was certainly the case on my wife's MBA11, but as my iPhoto library is on the secondary SSD, it didn't happen, so I now have both apps iTunes still follows the old sync rule, and uses iPhoto library, which suits me just fine. Not quite sure, what to do with Photos app yet. LOL

Mail lost all the rules, so I'm rebuilding them as and when now, but that's fine - too many redundant rules for defunct sources were there anyway. Every cloud, silver lining, etc.

Dead (non App Store) apps, and some obscure utilities, were banished from Launchpad with Launchpad Manager.
CCC, OnyX, AOO, VB, VMware and a few others upgraded, some for free, some - not so much...

Other than these very minor, as I already said, points, the upgrade is absolutely brilliant: memory management is miles ahead of Mavericks; the system is fast (well it was fast, but still); much better interaction between our two iPhones, my iPadPro12.9, iCloud and MBP; Siri is fun; and - I even changed my desktop background picture, for the first time in 11 years ...
A few bob spent on upgrading various bits of software, and replacing one old (very old) Linux program, is already forgotten, but the satisfaction of smoothly running system, and some very cute new apps, shall remain for a long time, I'm sure.