Working with the application

Listing and Automatically Updating Software

The Application Table

After launching the application, all copies of our software products on the local disks of your Mac will be listed. The first column of the application table shows colored status indicators for each program, letting you easily recognize the corresponding update situation:

• green: the latest version of the application is stored on your computer.
• yellow: the application is part of a different software product which is not up-to-date, or the application is not yet available as a new version, but as a new build (see below).
• red: the application is not up-to-date. It should be replaced by the latest version.
• gray: the status is unknown, or the application generally does not participate in any update procedures.

The precise status for each program is also listed as textual description in the third column below each application name. This is particularly helpful for color-blind users.

The fourth column indicates the version number, and, between parentheses, the build number of the application copy found on your computer. Clicking the icon with the magnifying glass can be used to make the Finder open a window that will show you the storage location of that copy. When holding the mouse cursor over the magnifying glass for a while, the location will also be presented as Unix path.

If an update can be downloaded for the application, the next column will indicate version number and build number of the latest version available for your currently running operating system. This is the version you will get when you decide to make the update.

The blue info button can be used to retrieve the “What’s new” notice which was published when the new application version was released. The button Update will start the automatic update procedure for the corresponding application.

The list of applications is sorted alphabetically. It only contains programs for which you have read permission. If multiple copies of an application are stored on your computer, all of them will be listed. By holding the cursor for more than a second over the application name you can let the Software Updater show the storage location of that copy as Unix path in a help tag.

In rare cases it can happen that an application is not available as a new version, but as a new build. This means the application has either not changed at all or only slightly. Replacing the software with a new build is only of interest for a small part of our customers. Typical examples are:

• the application has not been changed, but there were modifications in the accompanying reference manual,
• the application has not been changed, but was re-released with different language support packages,
• the application has not been changed, but its user interface was slightly modified, for example correcting a typo,
• the application has not been changed, but is packaged differently, e.g. with updated security certificates,
• minor changes have been made to the application, which will only lead to a different behavior in special cases, e.g. for customers that are affected by a specific technical issue.

Hiding and Showing Specific Copies

You can hide individual copies of applications in the list of Bresink Software Updater. This is useful if you intentionally like to keep a program stored in different versions. Hidden copies will disappear from the table, so they will no longer be considered when checking for updates. A copy of an application will be shown again however, when you move it to a new location. Perform the following steps to hide application copies:

1. Select the corresponding lines in the table.
2. Click the button Hide selected at the bottom of the window.

Hiding specific programs can be completely disabled again by clicking the button Show all.

If you add or delete applications or update an application outside of Bresink Software Updater, the table won’t track this automatically. However, you can click the button with the refresh arrow to update the contents of the table any time.

Updating a Single, Multiple, or All Updatable Applications

At your choice, you can run an automatic update for a single application, multiple applications, or all applications for which an update is available. This means, at all places where these applications are stored at the moment, the old versions will be deleted and then be replaced by the latest versions.

• To update a single application, click the corresponding button Update in the last column of the table.
• To update multiple applications, select the corresponding lines in the table, then open the menu item Application > Update.
• To update all applications for which newer versions or builds are available, click the button Update all at the lower right corner of the window.

If one of the affected programs is currently running, or if there are other possible conflicts between some of the applications to be updated, Bresink Software Updater will make you aware of this before any changes take place. You will get further information how the issue can be resolved.

When the update jobs are running, the application will show you the current status and possible errors in a dialog sheet. You can cancel the operation any time by clicking the related Cancel button. Please note that some of the running update steps may be cleanly completed before the overall procedure is stopped to ensure that the system won’t remain in an inconsistent state.

There is no service to update applications silently in the background. This makes sure you have full control when which software update should be installed.

Reviewing the Update Log

The application keeps a log about specific steps and events that occurred when running the update jobs. With its help you can always check when a specific software product on your Mac has been replaced by a different version.

If Bresink Software Updater is used by multiple user accounts, each user will have her own log, which is limited to the events she has caused herself.

Select the menu item Window > Update Log or press ⌘ + L.