macOS Releases

Should you upgrade your Mac to the new version of macOS?

Will you still be able to use AFS get at your DICE files?

For each new version of macOS, this page gives reasons why you might want to wait. In particular, you should wait until there's an OpenAFS client for the new version of macOS. Each version of macOS needs its own version of the OpenAFS client.

macOS Monterey

An OpenAFS-compatible client for Monterey can be downloaded from Auristor. To install it, follow the instructions at ⇒ AFS for macOS. We use it, and it seems to work properly.

15 November 2021: ⇒ Custom Mouse Pointers Blamed for Monterey Memory Leak (TidBITS newsletter).

macOS Big Sur

An OpenAFS-compatible client for Big Sur can be downloaded from Auristor. We've used it and it works. To install it, follow the instructions at ⇒ AFS for macOS.

macOS Catalina

32 bit apps

Catalina was the first release with no support for 32 bit apps. This Apple Support article explains what to do, including how to find any 32 bit apps on your Mac:

• ⇒ 32-bit app compatibility with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and later.

Security

Catalina has a new security regime. The first time you run software on Catalina you will be prompted to grant it permission to do various things such as notify you or access the disk.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox 6.0.14 crashes when run on Catalina unless you give it permission to access the disk as follows:

1. Close VirtualBox and ensure that it's not running.
2. Open System Preferences
3. Click Security & Privacy
4. Click Privacy
5. In the left-hand pane, select Full Disk Access
6. Using the + button, find the VirtualBox.app file (in the Applications folder) and double-click on it

• ⇒ VirtualBox Forums post

OpenAFS

An OpenAFS-compatible client for Catalina can be downloaded from Auristor. We've tried it; it seems to work.

• ⇒ Auristor OpenAFS client installer

macOS Mojave

We'e tried AFS on macOS on Mojave and it seems to work properly.

macOS High Sierra and older

Please upgrade!!

Since these versions are not supported by Apple, they do not get security updates, so using them would be foolish and risky.

Use of them on the University network or for University business would be a breach of regulations.