With macOS 10.15.5 released last night in final version, Apple has quietly changed the behavior of the command line tool that monitors system updates. The majority of users have every interest in going through System Preferences, but you can also update your Mac via the terminal and the command softwareupdate.
This is a very old order which is particularly useful for Macs managed remotely, but also because it provides additional functionality. By using a specific parameter, you can ignore a particular update, which is useful when you absolutely have to stay with a specific version of a program or system. But with macOS 10.15.5, Apple has decided to deprecate this option and a warning message warns that it will be removed in a future version of macOS.
For now, the option still works in the terminal, but no longer in System Preferences. If you add a specific update to the list of ignored versions, it will not be offered by updating your Mac with the terminal. However, as details Jeff Johnson who first noted the change, if you open the panel dedicated to updates in System Preferences, the new version will be offered there. And therefore, the badge signaling an update will be displayed again in the Dock.
Apple has not just changed macOS Catalina with this new policy, the security updates for Mojave and High Sierra released last night include the same alert. If you have followed this guide not to switch to macOS Catalina, be aware that you will have to repeat the same procedure if you open the “Update” panel of System Preferences.
One can imagine that the option will disappear completely with macOS 10.16 and that it will not be possible at all to ignore the major update of 2021. This choice of Apple is not surprising, it’s been a few years now that the company is increasingly encouraging its users to adopt the latest versions. Updates are loaded automatically, Apple then displays multiple notifications to prompt you to install them and macOS Catalina even slides in the middle of apps. His successor should still take another step in this policy.
This command line always allows you to download a full copy of macOS locally up to High Sierra, while the Mac App Store only retrieves the most recent. You will find explanations and details in this previous article.
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