Installing later builds over OS X PB

ericmurphy

Registered
I'm curious as to whether anyone out there has installed a later build of OS X over a pre-existing install of the Public Beta, as opposed to just reformatting and doing a fresh install. Obviously this will be a concern to those of us who have a working install of OS X when we receive the final version of OS X.

For example, I've reorganized my /Applications directory somewhat. I've moved all the Internet stuff (Mail.app, MS Explorer.app) into a subdirectory, and I've moved some of the stuff that was in /Applications to /Applications/Utilities. Will the shipping version of OS X recognize these new file locations, or will it just install new versions in their default locations? That seems more likely.

Also, I've got some different things going on in my machine, such as a (partially-configured) Samba server, ssh enabled, ipfw up and configured, etc. Will the shipping version of OS X overwrite those changes, or respect them?
 
The "Gold Release", the final candidate 4K78 build, installs poorly on top of previous builds, including PB. The most obvious and troubling effect is the loss of .app bundle recognition. You install a new OS X build, boot up, and can't run anything! All those bundles that were .apps in the previous build are now useless folders.

Which kind of leaves you screwed. At this point you can't, e.g., run Startup Disk to restart in 9.1 and get your bearings.

This is a prevalent, but not universal, problem. Some people have better luck, and you might as well give it a shot (after you back everything up, of course).

A newer build will also ignore any changes you have made in the Applications file structure and write new .apps wherever it wants to. So, for instance, if you have Internet Explorer in a subfolder, after installing a new build you'll get two: your original, and a (possibly newer) 5.1 version in the top-level Applications directory.

I ended up wiping and starting over.

Other bad news: no more ssh, no more gnutar. Cc is giving me trouble, and so far the original Dev Tools package isn't installing gcc and other goodies into later builds.

Whoops! Anyone have any better news or opposing views?

Matt
 
On the other hand, I've heard that 4K78 is probably NOT the final Gold version of OS X.

But one way or another, it sounds like the thing to do is 1) back up, back up, back up (at least the stuff in my home directory, and whatever else I can successfuly back up in terms of installed non-Apple applications, etc.), 2) try installing OS X over the PB, and 3) when (if?) that doesn't work out, reformat and do a new install.

I think it might be a good idea for me to let a couple hundred other people install over the Public Beta first, and then make a decision once I hear what kind of luck they've had.
 
billbaloney,

I have installed 4K78 over 4K73 and all is well. No symptons that you described occured as long I leave anything outside of home directory intact.. It is recommened that anything outside of home directory should be left alone and make a alias to that applicaitons in your home directory :)

Cheers,
Boult

 
As I said, the problem is prevalent, not universal. And yes, I was wrong about 4K78's being the "Gold Release" -- there's a newer build out already!

I guess any build at this point is a release candidate...but it's getting awfully close to the wire for Apple now. They're going to have to freeze development at some point, at least long enough to call something the "Gold Release".

Matt
 
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