NAME

softwareupdate — system software update tool

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Software Update checks for new and updated versions of your software based on information about your computer and current software.

Invoke softwareupdate by specifying a command followed by zero or more args.

softwareupdate requires admin authentication for all commands except --list. If you run softwareupdate as a normal admin user, you will be prompted for a password where required. Alternatively, you can run softwareupdate as root and avoid all further authentication prompts.

The following commands are available:

-l | --list

List all available updates.

-i | --install

Each update specified by args is downloaded and installed. args can be one of the following:

-r | --recommended

All updates that are recommended for your system. These are prefixed with a * character in the --list output.

--os-only

Only macOS updates

--safari-only

Only safari updates

-R | --restart

Automatically restart (or shut down) if required to complete installation. If the user invoking this tool is logged in then macOS will attempt to quit all applications, logout, and restart. If the user is not logged in, macOS will trigger a forced reboot if necessary. If you wish to always perform a forced reboot, pass -f (--force).

-a | --all

All updates that are applicable to your system, including those non-recommended ones, which are prefixed with a - character in the --list output. (Non-recommended updates are uncommon in any case.)

item ...

One or more specified updates. The --list output shows the item names you can specify here, prefixed by the * or - characters. See EXAMPLES.

--stdinpass

Password to authenticate as an owner. Apple Silicon only.

--user

Local username to authenticate as an owner. Apple Silicon only.

--list-full-installers

List the available macOS Installers.

--background

Trigger a background check with a forced scan.

--fetch-full-installer

Install the latest recommended macOS Installer. Use --full-installer-version to specify the version of macOS to install. ie. --full-installer-version 10.15. Use --launch-installer to launch the installer automatically after it has been downloaded

--install-rosetta

Install Rosetta. Only applies to Apple silicon Macs. Pass --agree-to-license to agree to the software license agreement without any user interaction.

-d | --download

Each update specified by args is downloaded but not installed. The values of args are the same as for the --install command. Updates downloaded with --download can be subsequently installed with --install, or through System Settings (as long as they remain applicable to your system). Updates are downloaded to /Library/Updates, but are not designed to be installed by double-clicking the packages in that directory: always use --install or System Settings to actually perform the install.

--schedule

Returns the per-machine automatic (background) check preference.

-h | --help

Print command usage.

EXAMPLES

The following examples are shown as given to the shell:

softwareupdate --list

 

Software Update Tool

Finding available software
Software Update found the following new or updated software:
   * Label: MacBookAirEFIUpdate2.4-2.4
        Title: MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update, Version: 2.4, Size: 3817K, Recommended: YES, Action: restart,
   * Label: ProAppsQTCodecs-1.0
        Title: ProApps QuickTime codecs, Version: 1.0, Size: 968K, Recommended: YES,

sudo softwareupdate --install ProAppsQTCodecs-1.0

 

Software Update Tool

Finding available software

Downloading ProApps QuickTime codecs
Downloaded ProApps QuickTime codecs
Installing ProApps QuickTime codecs
Done with ProApps QuickTime codecs
Done.

sudo softwareupdate --schedule

 

Automatic check is on