July 9, 2007 8:32 AM PDT

Mac OS X 10.4.10 Special Report: The problem with the Mac OS X 10.4.10 version number

by CNET staff

Mac OS X 10.4.10 is the first iterative release of Mac OS X to have 5 digits in its version string (1, 0, 4, 1, 0). It is also the first iterative release of Mac OS X to use the ".10" extension. This is causing some significant issues.

The initial three digits for "10.4.10" are the same as "10.4.1," an earlier release of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Since the "MAC_OS_X_VERSION_ACTUAL" string (used by Cocoa applications to determine the current OS version) can carry a maximum of four digits, Mac OS X 10.4.10 and and 10.4.1 are both labeled "1041."

This means that some applications recognize Mac OS X 10.4.10's version string as Mac OS X 10.4.1 and refuse to properly run, erroneously thinking that the system version is too old. For instance, the application UNO requires Mac OS X 10.4.4. When running under Mac OS X 10.4.10, it recognizes the Mac OS X version number as 10.4.1 and refuses to operate.

Essentially, the built-in Cocoa method for forbidding an app to run on too low a system breaks against Mac OS X 10.4.10.

We're still searching for a viable method for tricking applications into thinking that the system version is 10.4.9, which would largely obviate this problem.

Version number not displaying in Apple Remote Desktop It appears that systems that have been updated to Mac OS X 10.4.10 do not properly display the name "Mac OS X 10.4.10" in Apple Remote Desktop. Instead, the Mac OS X 10.4.10 systems are shown as Mac OS X 10.4.9, albeit with the correct build numbers for Mac OS X 10.4.10 (8R218 for PPC and 8R2218 for Intel).

MacFixIt reader Chris Rosa writes:

"Unfortunately creating a Smart List doesn't even work, because the interface limits you to selecting greater/less/equal to, rather than "contains". Filtering the list view by build number (8R218 for PPC and 8R2218 for Intel) works fine however."

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