Every autumn/fall, the current version of macOS changes, and with it there are changes great and small that can affect the apps we run. If you use any of the free apps that I provide here, now is the time to check that you’re running the correct version to support both your current macOS, and any that you might aspire to in the coming months.

SilentKnight

Although most of my apps have auto-update mechanisms that inform you when their updates are available, there are some notable pitfalls that can lull you into a sense of false security. Most importantly, SilentKnight was upgraded to version 2 two years ago to ensure its compatibility with Catalina and later. Every few days I come across someone who is still using version 1 with a newer release of macOS and seeing incorrect results. If you use SilentKnight in any version of macOS from Catalina onwards, then please ensure that it’s updated to the current version 2.10:
SilentKnight 2.10 (Universal App for Catalina to Sequoia)

This is particularly important if you intend upgrading to Sequoia, because of the changes it brings in how XProtect is updated. If you’re still running 2.9 or earlier, then SilentKnight will give you incorrect versions for XProtect, and at worst could report a version of 0 (zero) as it might not be able to find XProtect at all.

Skint and SystHist

For the same reason, Skint should be updated to version 1.08:
Skint 1.08 (Universal App for Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia only)

SystHist lists full system and security update installation history, a task that invariably requires an annual update to cope with the quirks of the new version of macOS. If you’re aiming for Sequoia at some stage, ensure that you have updated it to version 1.20:
SystHist 1.20 (Universal App for High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia)

Writing Tools

Although Apple isn’t intending to release any of its new AI features in the initial version of Sequoia, 15.0, but is delaying them for 15.1, you might like to prepare for that by updating my rich text editor and PDF viewer in advance. Their latest versions should prove fully compatible with Writing Tools when they’re released.

DelightEd is a Rich Text (RTF) editor with special Dark Mode features and support for interlinear text, and version 2.3 should work fully with Writing Tools:
DelightEd 2.3 (Universal App for High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia)

Podofyllin is a lightweight PDF viewer (without any editing capability, so it can’t alter original PDF files) and shows source code and more. Version 1.3 should work fully with Writing Tools:
Podofyllin 1.3 (Universal App for High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia)

XProCheck, Nalaprop, Precize

Other recent updates you might have missed include the following.

XProCheck to check on XProtect Remediator scans completed and reported in the log:
XProCheck 1.6 (Universal App for Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia)

Nalaprop for multilingual natural language parsing, now compatible with Writing Tools:
Nalaprop 1.3 (Universal App for Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia)

Precize, which looks deep into files, bundles and folders to show their full size including extended attributes, provides macOS Bookmarks and volfs paths as enduring file references, and detailed information contained in Bookmarks and Aliases:
Precize 1.15 (Universal App for High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia)

Key points

• For Catalina or later, particularly Sequoia, use SilentKnight 2.10.
• For Sequoia in particular, use Skint 1.08.
• For Sequoia in particular, use SystHist 1.20.
• Older versions of those apps will give incorrect results when run in more recent versions of macOS.

Soon after the first beta-release of macOS 15.0 Sequoia, I noticed a post on X (formerly Twitter) reporting a new command tool xprotect, but never got the chance to take a look at it. With recent updates to the beta versions, its purpose has become clear: Sequoia uses a different mechanism to update its XProtect data. And that’s not compatible with any of my security update utilities, LockRattler, SilentKnight, Skint, or even SystHist.

The reason for this is that, in all previous versions of macOS going back many years, XProtect data are stored in a bundle named XProtect.bundle, where you (and my apps) can check its installed version number. But in Sequoia that bundle is neither used nor updated when XProtect data are updated. Indeed, Software Update and its command tool equivalent softwareupdate, used by my apps, can’t even see XProtect updates any more, as they’re checked and installed using a different mechanism, which is where the xprotect command tool comes into play.

Run any of those apps on a recent version of Sequoia, and they’ll dutifully report the version of XProtect found in that bundle, which will now be out of date, but the update is apparently not available, although in many cases it has already been installed and protection is up to date!

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, searching Sequoia’s release notes and other Apple sources fails to discover any information about this change, or the xprotect command tool.

SystHist was due its annual update anyway, so its new version 1.20 now handles Sequoia updates and (as well as it can) reports those it can find to XProtect. This new version is available from here: systhist120
from Downloads above, from its Product Page, and through its auto-update mechanism.

Skint (and its menu bar companion SkintM) version 1.08 now checks correctly for the XProtect version in Sequoia, and is available from here: skint108
from Downloads above, from its Product Page, and through its auto-update mechanism.

I’m not proposing updating LockRattler to address this issue, as SilentKnight and Skint are now capable of handling most needs. If this distresses you, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do in the coming weeks. However, without major internal surgery it’s never going to work fully with Sequoia, I’m afraid.

I was hoping to release a new version of SilentKnight today too, but Xcode gremlins are currently blowing that away, and I fear I have some reconstruction needed before it will do anything other than crash! As soon as I have a stable release, I will make it available.

These changes are sufficient to make it unwise to continue with the current major version of SilentKnight, as all its update code needs to be reworked so that it handles other updates through softwareupdate, as it does at present, and has a privileged helper app to obtain updates using the new mechanism for XProtect alone. My intention therefore is to provide one final update to SilentKnight 2 that will work without being able to update XProtect in macOS 15. That will be the final release to support macOS Catalina to Sonoma. The new version will be SilentKnight 3, will require Sequoia, and I hope will be released before Sequoia 15.0 hits the streets.

I apologise for this, and for the mess it’s causing for SilentKnight in Sequoia, but as you’ll appreciate this is all way beyond my control. I will also be writing further about what appears to be happening with XProtect for the weekend.