I am trying to install a macOS update from the command line. Let's see what updates are available:
$/usr/sbin/softwareupdate -l
Software Update Tool
Finding available software
Software Update found the following new or updated software:
* Label: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update-
Title: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update, Version: , Size: 5099042K, Recommended: YES, Action: restart,
But what is the actual label? According to this resource https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/update-macos-terminal-command/ it is the exact wording:
So the analogous value here would be macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update- . However that does not work:
$/usr/sbin/softwareupdate -i "macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update-"
Software Update Tool
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update-: No such update
No updates are available.
I also tried some variants:
(python39) 10:25:21/~ $/usr/sbin/softwareupdate -i "macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update"
Software Update Tool
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update: No such update
No updates are available.
$/usr/sbin/softwareupdate -i "macOS Catalina 10.15.7"
Software Update Tool
macOS Catalina 10.15.7: No such update
No updates are available.
So then how is the softwareupdate tool supposed to be used ?
Best Answer
As documented in the man page you need to use
sudo
to actually install software viasoftwareupdate
. So in your case it'sto install 10.15.7, or
to install all available updates.