Apple today made an error with a security update that could have a high IT support cost. As reported in MacRumors Forums, “Software update 031-51913”, designed to block some incompatible Kernel Extensions, also renders certain Mac models unable to connect to the Internet via Ethernet ports, as the ports become...
In this post I summarise what version control is, and why to add it to your Mac managament toolset. I then look at how to manage a Git-enabled Munki repository, and list other files associated with Mac management that you should consider version controlling. Why use version control? Version control...
You may wish to restrict the right to edit certain Munki manifests to certain users in your organisation. For example, you may wish to allow the editing of individual client manifests, but prevent editing of certain “core” manifests that affect a large number of machines. Alternatively, you may have different...
I have extended the capability of Munki-Do to handle branching in a Git-enabled Munki repository, as may be required in larger IT Support teams. Munki-Do now has a GIT_BRANCHING option which creates a new, unique branch for each new change made. This branch is identified by Munki-Do user and timestamp....
I just started using Jekyll for blogging, and the nature of my blog means referencing various weblinks in almost every post. A link in a Markdown is normally constructed inline like so: I just started using [Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.com/) for blogging... When [blogging with Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.com/), I find some tasks repetitive... To avoid...
This blog has run on WordPress.com for a while, but I have increasingly found its format to be somewhat frustrating, particularly when it comes to quoting code, which is a frequent occurrence in this blog. I prefer to edit in Markdown, which is possible on WordPress.com, but has limitations. I’ve...
Munki-Do inherited from its father MunkiWebAdmin by Greg Neagle et al., the ability to commit to a Git-initiated Munki Repo when making changes to Munki manifests. Over the past few days I’ve been looking at how Git can interact with Munki. Using Git with Munki is covered in the Munki...
Disclaimer: Munki-Do is still a very much work in progress, so shouldn’t be used in production. I welcome the raising of issues, and pull requests. Munki-Do (as in “munki see, munki do”) enables the manipulation of Munki packages via the web. Munki-Do is based on MunkiWebAdmin from Greg Neagle, and...
Matlab is a cross-platform commercial programming tool. Its use is licensed, either with a personal license code or through a license server. It is made available as an ISO from the Mathworks website by authorised accounts. A silent installation method is detailed here. Previously I had installed Matlab on a...
A Mac user complained that Managed Software Center popped up in the middle of a conference presentation. I started looking into how to suppress notifications. As a quick fix, I created an AppleScript application which suppresses notifications for 24 hours, utilising the SuppressUserNotification key in /Library/Preferences/ManagedInstalls.plist. The application sets the...
