Xtools for Mac OS X installation do's and don'ts

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Xtools Release Notes

We've been working very hard to try to come up with a flawless installation technique for Xtools. We were able to pin-point the problems with the Xtools 1.0 installer and have completely changed the way the installer works.

We thought that we had all the installation bugs worked out when we released version 1.02 on Friday, but as some of you found out, there are a few lingering problems. We have not been able to reproduce the reported problems here on our machines at Tenon, but have talked to the few users still having problems and have come up with a "Roadmap to Disaster" so to speak. It seems that the users experiencing the most difficulties have some if not all of the following environmental variables in common.

1. "Dirty" OS X installs. By dirty, we mean the machine was never wiped clean (reformatted, data zeroed) after the Public Beta (or internal developer installs).

If you "upgraded" from the Public Beta to the Final version without cleaning the drive, or "upgraded" to/from any other previous version of OS X to the final, we cannot guarantee the stability of the installer, nor can we anticipate the results. There were MANY fundamental changes made to the OS X system between the Public Beta to the Final, we can not possibly test all of the inconsistencies that may have developed by upgrading from a beta operating system rather than doing a clean install. Therefore, it is recommended that you start out with a fresh installation of OS X before installing Xtools. Doing so will probably prove beneficial in the long run anyway.

2. "Dirty" Xtools installs. Installing the final version of Xtools over any beta version prior to 1.0b10, and even possibly 1.0b10, (although we've thoroughly tested this with no problems).

We have been working under the assumption that users running Xtools on the Mac OS X Public Beta would have cleaned their drives before installing the Final version of OS X, thus removing all traces of our previous betas. Again, we can not possibly test all combinations of beta versions of Xtools installed on top of beta versions of OS X then updated to Final versions. So, refer to our recommendation above about installing a clean OS X system before attempting to install Xtools.

3. The OS X 10.01 update.

The 10.01 update was as much a surprise to us as it must have been to many of you. We were unaware that Apple was releasing it this past weekend, and since we released Xtools 1.02 on Friday before the 10.01 update was released, we did not have a chance to test it. We have done some testing on it today and although we haven't encountered any problems with the installer so far, we have a ways to go before we are willing to give it our stamp of approval.

4. Third party SSH installations.

This has been tested in-house by us, but again, we can't test everyone's SSH install. We don't think 3rd party SSH installs are likely candidates for problems, but haven't ruled them out 100%. If you will be installing an SSH other than the one included with Xtools, we recommend installing Xtools and THEN installing SSH, just to be on the safe side. We will revoke this way of thinking if enough people tell us they've had no problems reversing the procedure.

If you fall into one or several of the above categories, proceed with caution when installing Xtools. We are convinced that the problems occurring now are a result of the above listed circumstances.

We thank you for your patience and apologize for any problems caused by the previous releases.

Please direct any questions to support@tenon.com