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Security Update 2008-002: printing broken, fixes
[Wednesday, March 19th]
General fix: re-apply Mac OS X combo updater As has been the case with many previous security updates from Apple, re-applying the most recent Mac OS X Combo Updater (10.5.2) works to resolve a number of general issues apparent after installation of Security Update 2008-002. You can find the release appropriate for your system on Apple's download page.
Printing broken -- fix Several users have reported that printing is broken after installing Security Update 2008-002 -- likely a side effect of the heavy modifications made to the CUPS printing architecture in this release. MacFixIt reader Chad writes:
"Since installing the latest security update, I can no longer print to my HP4650 network printer. I get the following error in the print window '/usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops failed' and the job goes to 'stopped.' There is a discussion about this on the Apple forums."
In many cases, simply reinstalling the Mac OS X 10.5.2 combo updater -- as mentioned above -- resolves this issue.
Before reinstalling the combo updater, however, you should try to restart CUPS manually: Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and type the following commands, pressing return after each:
- cupsdisable
- cupsenable
Failing that, you may need to reinstall CUPS, or revert to an earlier version of the system. Various versions are available from this Web site: http://www.cups.org/software.php,. First you should use the latest file with a .dmg extension, then move to prior iterations if necessary.
Other fixes:- Clear caches Use Leopard Cache Cleaner to perform a medium or deep cleaning of caches. One reader writes:
- Repair permissions Sure enough, some users have been able to resolve post Security Update 2008-002 printing issues by repairing disk permissions with Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities).
Problems starting up Some users are experiencing issues starting up after Security Update 2008-002 -- a not atypical symptom.
MacFixIt reader Albert Blitz writes:
"After installing the security update I cannot start my iBook G4 anymore, not form the OSX disk, nor from anything. It opens up and the round apple does not appear."
If you are experiencing this issue, restart into Safe mode, by holding down the Shift key from the moment you hear the startup tone to the moment the "spinning gear" appears. Expect this startup to take longer than usual. Don't be alarmed if the fans whir loudly during the "spinning gear" display. Eventually you will be presented with the Safe Boot login screen. Log in as the administrator.
You can now try simply restarting normally. Certain cache files and other potential causes of issues are eliminated by simply performing a safe boot. If you still experience issues, start in safe mode again and follow the procedures in this tutorial.
Note that the first restart after a security update may be longer than expected.
Wireless connectivity issues Some users are having problems connecting to AirPort Base stations and other wireless access points after the update.
"My partner?s Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz can no longer connect to the airport base station (g model). No problem with my C2D MacBook Pro."
Similar issue? Please let us know.
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You beat me to it. Exactly what I was thinking.
The Combo Updater will not necessarily undo the later update. It can be engineered to only replace certain files which may not be part of the later update.
Having said that, it is certainly a good idea to re-apply the security update after using the Combo so as to reap the benefits of the security update. Generally, though I would recommend not rolling back unless you have to. After all, there is a reason we Apple pays those programmers all that money for something they give out at no cost to the customer. Generally we benefit from the updates.
FWIW
"Wouldn't reinstalling an OS X Combo update, replace at least some files installed by the security update, and negate the security update's benefits?"
As hard as MDJ has been on MacFixIt, the answer to this question is "For the most part, no." The installer does not replace newer files with older ones, provided that the files in question are part of a bundle/package with an identifiable version in both the installed bundle and the installer package. For example, the Installer will not replace a newer kernel extension with an older one.
The problem is that many of the flat-file Unix utilities (CUPS, ssh, pax, Apache, etc.) are not stored or installed as bundles or packages. Therefore, they have no bundle versions on disk, and no bundle versions in the installer package, and the installer can't tell if they're part of a newer version or not. In those cases, newer files can get replaced by older ones by reinstalling an older update.
We went through this on this site last year in this thread. The only thing that's changed since then, as far as I know, is the new Leopard-only flat package format. Instead of a
BundleVersions.plistfile, the same information is encoded in XML format inside thePackageInfofile inside the flat package archive, but the process remains the same. (Pacifist 2.5 can easily show you this file inside an installer package without extracting or installing it.)So, yes, installing an older updater can replace newer files with older ones if they're not part of an identified bundle, and most of the Unix utilities are not.
Also, be careful about installing new open-source versions of things yourself, like CUPS or OpenSSH. The Installer has no way of knowing you did this, and the next time Apple releases an OS or Security Update, it may replace some of the files in your open-source version with files from a different version, leading to drama and unpleasantness. It's probably wiser to install such things in a non-default location to avoid Installer shenanigans.
(It'd be fun to blame the installer for this, but it's just not feasible. There's no need for a Security Update to include hundreds of CUPS files if only two of them changed, but if the Installer wanted to make sure you hadn't changed anything behind its back, it would have to checksum every single CUPS-related file and then either refuse to proceed if any of them had changed, or include the full CUPS installation "just in case." Apple made the reasonable call that the Installer should not have to handle people monkeying around with system components behind its back, because otherwise, it would be complicated beyond belief and all but unsupportable.)
Thanks for that explanation.
the "Instant Hijack" component of Rogue Amoeba's "Audio Hijack Pro" (if installed) is often to blame for the printing issues experienced after the security update.
Doesn't this kind of make all of MacFixIt's suggestions on how to fix the problem sound like voodoo?
Not neccesarily voodoo, because as the article states, some other people have found that following Macfixit's suggestions has fixed the problems for them, and presumably if they too had Instant Hijack installed, but hadn't removed it, they'd still be seeing the problems.
What's the trick to getting the 10.5.2 Combo Update Installer to run again? When I run the installer, I get the message: "You cannot install Mac OS X Update Combined on this volume. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."
Is there a way to force this?
- by djoechaffin March 26, 2008 10:19 AM PDT
- For me, simply restarting my Airport Extreme base station allowed my printer to be recognized again.
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