(help) List of MacOS update agents

[losthismarbles]

As per title, if folks could chip in, get us a list of the deamons responsible for updates?

-- i am not looking to defer, delay, whatever is you may want to advise me to do instead. Straight request, as is above --
-- am also not interested in why you think updates are important; no offense. Straight request, as is above --

Am missing something, there must be a daemon only for checking to see if my version is on a par with current release.. ie the daemon responsible for that red circle popping up when there's an update out and you haven't installed it yet.
And since i'm missing at least one already.. let's get us a list? All of them in one thread?

Would be a useful post to link to, in the future.

@bogdanw help? 🙂

 

[gymrat2k]

Howard Oakley at eclecticlight.co has a in depth series about how Tahoe updates:

How macOS 26 Tahoe updates 1

How macOS 26.2 updated to 26.3, variation in download sizes, how macOS works out free space requirements to proceed with the update, and its sequence of stages run by a finite state machine.

eclecticlight.co

How macOS 26 Tahoe updates: 2 Finite state machines

Software update was completely redesigned for Big Sur, using finite state machines to enable reliable, flexible and robust updates to be applied to macOS. These are documented in log entries made d…

eclecticlight.co

How macOS 26 Tahoe updates: 3 Catalogues and preparing to download

How Software Update settings obtains a list of available updates, and the variants that should contain. How mobile asset catalogues are checked, and preparations made to download the update.

eclecticlight.co

How macOS 26 Tahoe updates: 4 Download, preparation and installation

How a Content Caching Server can be used to supply an update. Preflight checks are extensive, and lead on to other preparation. Finally the boot chime is muted, and the Mac rebooted to allow instal…

eclecticlight.co

 

[Bigwaff]

Am missing something, there must be a daemon only for checking to see if my version is on a par with current release..

Isn’t this just softwareupdated ? Use a firewall app to block its network traffic if you don’t want to see notifications or install updates. Unblock when you do.

 

[bogdanw]

@losthismarbles With SIP disabled, from Terminal:

launchctl bootout gui/$UID/com.apple.SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager
launchctl disable gui/$UID/com.apple.SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.softwareupdated  
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.softwareupdated

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.mobile.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.mobile.softwareupdated

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.bridgeOSUpdateProxy
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.bridgeOSUpdateProxy

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.softwareupdate_firstrun_task
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.softwareupdate_firstrun_task

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.uarpassetmanagerd
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.uarpassetmanagerd

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.mobile.NRDUpdated
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.mobile.NRDUpdated

and reboot.
Tested in a virtual machine with Tahoe 26.3.1

To re-enable, run the commands with enable instead of disable and reboot.

Disabling and Enabling System Integrity Protection
https://developer.apple.com/documen...ling-and-enabling-system-integrity-protection
About software updates for Apple devices
https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/about-software-updates-depc4c80847a/web

 

[Fishrrman]

bogdan -

Re your reply 4 above.

Please excuse my lack of terminal-fu, but...
...when you put up a list of "code" like that,
With multiple sudo commands and multiple lines...

...Do each of those lines need to be entered into terminal "one-at-a-time"?
or...
Can one copy and paste the entire list of commands all at once?
(and then enter the password to satisfy the sudo prompt)

 

[Grumpus]

I'm not @bogdanw, but...

You can execute the entire list of commands all at once. You'll be prompted for a password by the first sudobut not by the subsequent ones. It's never, ever a good idea to copy and paste commands involving sudoor while you're in a root shell. Better to save the list of commands to a file, and after verifying that there are no typos you can execute the commands in the file by typing . filename (that's a dot) or source filename in the terminal. The contents of filename will be read as if you typed each line of filename into the terminal, one by one. You could also turn the list of commands into a shell script if it's something you're going to be running many times.

 

[bogdanw]

The commands are meant to be entered one by one.
To run them faster, include them in a bash script. Open TextEdit – New – Format – Make Plain Text – copy-paste the commands, save as ~/Desktop/Disable-updates.sh
From Terminal chmod +x ~/Desktop/Disable-updates.sh to make it executable, then ~/Desktop/Disable-updates.sh to run it.

Disable-updates.sh

#!/bin/zsh
launchctl bootout gui/$UID/com.apple.SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager
launchctl disable gui/$UID/com.apple.SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.mobile.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.mobile.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.bridgeOSUpdateProxy
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.bridgeOSUpdateProxy
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.softwareupdate_firstrun_task
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.softwareupdate_firstrun_task
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.uarpassetmanagerd
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.uarpassetmanagerd
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.mobile.NRDUpdated
sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.mobile.NRDUpdated

Enable-updates.sh

#!/bin/zsh
launchctl enable gui/$UID/com.apple.SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager
sudo launchctl enable system/com.apple.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl enable system/com.apple.mobile.softwareupdated
sudo launchctl enable system/com.apple.bridgeOSUpdateProxy
sudo launchctl enable system/com.apple.softwareupdate_firstrun_task
sudo launchctl enable system/com.apple.uarpassetmanagerd
sudo launchctl enable system/com.apple.mobile.NRDUpdated

There is another update daemon /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mobileassetd.plist that controls updates that are downloaded into System/Library/AssetsV2/ (Siri, languages, and others).

 

[losthismarbles]

@bogdanw thanks a lot man.. appreciated 🙂
@Grumpus wasn't the 'how', just the 'which'. Missed more than one as it turns out.

The 'how' is already sorted; for example:

And then i'll group them all -> one-click on/off.

 

[losthismarbles]

-- update --
O.K., so far so good.

Since we're going with the firewall route, i can still manually initiate an update procedure (all daemons remain 100% functional), albeit obviously it can no longer connect anywhere and fails:

This doesn't mean much on its own, we'll know for sure when it's time for the 26.5 update, see what it does on its own; it being also why i'm going the long way about it, not a fan of reboots->SIP on/off->reboots, definitely not a fan of killing "integral" processes before i'm absolutely sure i know what that entails on a practical level. Nice and slow.
Could be that it fails to update, but still shows the red circle (1) indicating an update, we'll see.. am following @bogdanw instructions, maybe he has something to add on this one?

As of now however, these are the processes blocked:

(if anyone's comparing, they'll notice "com.apple.softwareupdate_firstrun_task" is missing; that's because it's a child process of "softwareupdated"; you block the latter through a firewall, internal processes are instantly equally blocked)

Lastly, have listened, seen and downloaded from Apple TV, Podcasts and Music, no issue at all.
Have also toyed with Weather, Maps and Stocks, Mail, again no issue. App Store functions just fine as well, no consequences noticed thus far.

We'll see what happens when it's 26.5 time. Even with 'Automatic Updates' set to off, i should be expecting the aforementioned red circle when it's time, you can't escape that thing normally. If it never pops up even though i know 26.5 is live? We're sorted.
To be continued 🙂

* And my thanks to bogdanw again, seriously

 

[PotentPeas]

We'll see what happens when it's 26.5 time. Even with 'Automatic Updates' set to off, i should be expecting the aforementioned red circle when it's time, you can't escape that thing normally. If it never pops up even though i know 26.5 is live? We're sorted.

Legitimately curious here what you are trying to avoid. Just being notified about Tahoe, or accidentally upgrading to it?

The firewall route you are going through seems pretty extreme. You are also going to have to "relax" the firewall policies in order to install Sequoia 15.7.6, which will presumably drop at the same time as Tahoe 26.5. (Similar story for each subsequent macOS upgrade.)

(If you also don't care about subsequent Sequoia updates at all, then I guess you can ignore me, your solution is excellent.)

The alternate to this firewall work would be:

You can "escape" the red circle by installing the "NoBubbleNew" policy from @bogdanw, see this post.

You can also avoid being nagged to upgrade to Tahoe by setting the "last nagged" date to the far future (see terminal command in the same post).

I've been using both of these. I do not see a red bubble on the Settings app dock icon, or in the Apple menu, and I have not gotten any Tahoe nags. I do see an indication that Tahoe is "available" only if I actually open System Settings, and that is uncommon enough not to be bothersome.

 

[losthismarbles]

Legitimately curious here what you are trying to avoid

Typical non-Linux user thinking 🙂
To explain starting backwards,

- Have done the defer thing + bubble mobileconfig while still on Sequoia (for testing), just hadn't registered in the forums back then; i still got that indication though. Yes, it bothers me. Mentality/approach related.
Not a fan of "reminders" that cannot be disabled, cannot be hidden, over things i have elected, manually, to disregard. "For my own good" and all that..

- As to what i'm trying to achieve;

Nothing to do with Sequoia, not going back; goal is to lock me in 26.6. Forgo the firmware upgrade of .7 (for now), forgo 27 entirely (for now).
Lock me at 26.6 without bubbles, circles, notifications, nags or disadvantages.
Started now because if anything's missed process-wise come 26.5, i'll still have time to remedy before 26.6 🙂

Even if we grant scenario(s) where the defer+bubble combo works for others? It's temporary. Defer.. and they have stated it's going out the window, so..
I want it permanent, i want it 100% dependable (non Apple-influnced), i want it on or off if/when i see fit. In short, i want control -and consequences thereof, sure- of my machine.

- regarding a firewall being extreme..

If you're running a UNIX-based OS without both a network and an application-layer firewall?
Good for you i guess.. am sure you know best. Personally, i'd never. Not for a single day. Just me 🙂
(Apple's, being Apple's, is subpar; network only)