MAS - Using a single update for multiple computers

[laserbeam273]

I have two macs - an iMac and an MBA. I also, for the most part, rely on mobile internet for day to day usage. Now I have some fairly large software from the MAS on both computers, e.g. FCP X and Xcode. I'm not that keen to burn my monthly data limit on updates, is there any way that I can download the update on one computer, and have the update applied to both?

 

[talmy]

MAS programs are distributed as a single .app "package". You should be able to copy it (from your /Applications folder) to any other of your systems and have it work (although it may ask for account verification).

 

[spacepower7]

This is the problem with the MAS, the huge updates.

Example: iPhoto
A - iLife '11 came one one Mac, but not the MAS version.
B - newer Mac came with lion and installed iLife '11 through MAS for free, being a new Mac

Updates on system A are 20-130 MB thru system software update, while updates on system B are 900MB - over 1 GB thru MAS.

This is a ridiculous waste of bandwidth and time. The question is .... Will the new background downloads and updates (on limited mac models) in 10.8 include MAS updates or just system preference updates?

Example
xCode from MAS is huge every time it needs updating, I think the newest update is somewhere between 2-4 gigs, I forget exactly bc I declined updating it and keep ignoring it.

It seems to me that most MAS updates are basically redownloading the entire app rather than the updated parts? Is this true? What happens when you need to download an update to a 8 GB game, do you have to redownload 8GB every time?

 

[talmy]

Presumably the MAS will allow incremental updates. Only time will tell how many apps adopt this strategy. I think the recent change in the way XCode is distributed in the MAS is leading up to this. Originally on the MAS, XCode was distributed as an installer which you ran to install the XCode application, just like XCode was distributed before the MAS existed. This means that a MAS update would only be able to update the installer, not the applications itself. Now XCode downloads as a single package, with everything integrated. (Not quite true as there are separate downloads needed for documentation, libraries, and extra tools.)

 

[laserbeam273]

MAS programs are distributed as a single .app "package". You should be able to copy it (from your /Applications folder) to any other of your systems and have it work (although it may ask for account verification).

Is that true even for more sophisticated apps like Xcode? I may give that a go.

The updates do seem big, but surely they're at least somewhat incremental, right? That'd be crazy to have to re-download the entire app each time. I'm going to really be struggling with my mobile internet!