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Your OS hasnt received a security patch in 3 years. Your iTerm hasn't been updated in 2 years. I wouldn't worry so much about iTerm and would start working har

Your OS hasnt received a security patch in 3 years. Your iTerm hasn't been updated in 2 years. I wouldn't worry so much about iTerm and would start working harder on those issues that are preventing you from updating.

chooseaname 7y ago
Not OP, but with Apple it's a trade-off between having the latest and having worse battery life and slightly less performance. Edit: I guess I touched a nerve...
- nrki 7y ago
  It's also a trade-off between a functional computer and a brick. (I upgraded someone's MBP to Lion(?) and the graphic accelerated GUI elements of that version caused it to crash hard, often. Turns out it had a desoldered GPU for which a recall was issued, but Apple still refused to fix it.)
jlokier 7y ago
Upvoted by me because that is a sensible answer. However, I don't know of good answers to the issues that prevent me from updating. For most of my work, Linux is used in VMs and remotely (Linux in a VM on a Macbook uses much less power than Linux running natively, and side-swiping between Linux and Mac is really great). But I don't use the Linux GUI much. My open windows are virtually all iTerm2 or Firefox, and almost everything that isn't a GUI is on a Linux command line somewhere. So there isn't a strong imperative to update the host OS of my laptop. However, what I lose from updating is significant. There are things that can't be done with much more recent MacOS, or which work significantly differently, or where the bugs have changed so introducing risks (SMBFS random file deletion, thanks Apple!). And Apple has a very annoying habit of making it next to impossible to build things for old devices on new Macs. (Unlike, say, Linux, where you can at least cross-compile or use chroot/containers to run old build systems.) The real answer for the things I want to do is to buy a new machine and keep the old one around to support older devices that it is currently doing. But I'm in the same dilemma as other people hoping for a great new Macbook Pro (after 2015) to come on the market at a sensible price some day. Besides, they have become very expensive, and my current one still works very well. So in practice, I don't have much in the way of security risks (Firefox and Linux are updated after all), but iTerm2 is probably the only vulnerable tool I use daily on the Mac side which is exposed to data from the net. And so it made sense to ask, just in case. I completely respect the author's reply.
- CJefferson 7y ago
  While I have no concrete evidence, I would strongly suspect you should worry much more about security holes in your OS than in iTerm2.
  - rurban 7y ago
    You mean the holes they are adding in the latest years? macOS wasn't getting better since SnowLeopard. The HW neither.
    - jhanschoo 7y ago
      If you're running a current version, then vulnerabilities are being patched as they are updated. If you're running a version that is not receiving security updates, you remain vulnerable to vulnerabilities discovered (perhaps in later versions using same code) after the updates have ceased.
      - rurban 7y ago
        I'm running a version which is not yet vulnerable to file system destruction (also mine still is case-sensitive as it started), and is not vulnerable to critical discoveryd/mDNSResponder and Mail bugs. It's a complicated pro-contra decision, but in Apple's case it's an easy decision. They have abandoned all developer good will some years ago already. Running current versions is rarely advisable. Just see the gcc-9 disaster.
- yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
  Why not just run the version of Mac OS that you have now in a virtual machine for the handful tasks that truly require at? And run either a new version of Mac OS or Linux on the bare metal?
  - jlokier 7y ago
    As explained, yes eventually, but it's not a mere handful of tasks, and the set of known/anticipated issues is too much to treat the change as trivial, especially when working on something else time critical, which I am. (I wouldn't run Linux on bare metal on a Macbook Pro though, because I already did some experiments and found it used less battery to run Linux under VMware Fusion, than to run the same Linux bare metal on the same machine. Counterintuitive perhaps. Maybe even wrong :-) but that's what I found at the time.)
harikb 7y ago
People have different reasons for not updating. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro that cannot run the latest patch on High Sierra and I have to stop right before the last known patch. Otherwise the machine goes to an infinite reboot loop. Apple doesn't care for a 9 yr old machine. But it is otherwise a fine piece of hardware - use upgradable HDD, battery etc. I still prefer that to my 2016 Macbook Pro that is a piece of shit machine.
- nier 7y ago
  It makes me sad that everything you wrote including the swearing is justified. If only at least one other manufacturer could come up with a decent trackpad.
- grecy 7y ago
  FWIW, I just bought a 2015 MBP and it's brilliant. It has the retina screen, old school keyboard, great trackpad "old USB", magsafe, SD card slot and HDMI. It will run the latest macOS no problem. If it ever dies, I might just get another one.
  - otakucode 7y ago
    I hope the battery was replaced? There's a recall affecting the battery for mid-2015 MBPs. The batteries can explode even when not being charged and the system not in use, it's definitely worth complying with the recall (which they make very easy, I did it with mine right after the recall was announced and got mine back within 4 business days).
    - Fnoord 7y ago
      Not all mid 2015 MBPs are affected. I think it is only some 15". I own a 13" and 15" and neither are affected. You can verify that the battery is good on Apple's website, by checking out your MBP's serial.
    - grecy 7y ago
      As the comment lower said, it doesn't affect mine, I have a 13"

chooseaname 7y ago

Not OP, but with Apple it's a trade-off between having the latest and having worse battery life and slightly less performance. Edit: I guess I touched a nerve...

nrki 7y ago
It's also a trade-off between a functional computer and a brick. (I upgraded someone's MBP to Lion(?) and the graphic accelerated GUI elements of that version caused it to crash hard, often. Turns out it had a desoldered GPU for which a recall was issued, but Apple still refused to fix it.)

jlokier 7y ago

Upvoted by me because that is a sensible answer. However, I don't know of good answers to the issues that prevent me from updating. For most of my work, Linux is used in VMs and remotely (Linux in a VM on a Macbook uses much less power than Linux running natively, and side-swiping between Linux and Mac is really great). But I don't use the Linux GUI much. My open windows are virtually all iTerm2 or Firefox, and almost everything that isn't a GUI is on a Linux command line somewhere. So there isn't a strong imperative to update the host OS of my laptop. However, what I lose from updating is significant. There are things that can't be done with much more recent MacOS, or which work significantly differently, or where the bugs have changed so introducing risks (SMBFS random file deletion, thanks Apple!). And Apple has a very annoying habit of making it next to impossible to build things for old devices on new Macs. (Unlike, say, Linux, where you can at least cross-compile or use chroot/containers to run old build systems.) The real answer for the things I want to do is to buy a new machine and keep the old one around to support older devices that it is currently doing. But I'm in the same dilemma as other people hoping for a great new Macbook Pro (after 2015) to come on the market at a sensible price some day. Besides, they have become very expensive, and my current one still works very well. So in practice, I don't have much in the way of security risks (Firefox and Linux are updated after all), but iTerm2 is probably the only vulnerable tool I use daily on the Mac side which is exposed to data from the net. And so it made sense to ask, just in case. I completely respect the author's reply.

CJefferson 7y ago
While I have no concrete evidence, I would strongly suspect you should worry much more about security holes in your OS than in iTerm2.
- rurban 7y ago
  You mean the holes they are adding in the latest years? macOS wasn't getting better since SnowLeopard. The HW neither.
  - jhanschoo 7y ago
    If you're running a current version, then vulnerabilities are being patched as they are updated. If you're running a version that is not receiving security updates, you remain vulnerable to vulnerabilities discovered (perhaps in later versions using same code) after the updates have ceased.
    - rurban 7y ago
      I'm running a version which is not yet vulnerable to file system destruction (also mine still is case-sensitive as it started), and is not vulnerable to critical discoveryd/mDNSResponder and Mail bugs. It's a complicated pro-contra decision, but in Apple's case it's an easy decision. They have abandoned all developer good will some years ago already. Running current versions is rarely advisable. Just see the gcc-9 disaster.
yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
Why not just run the version of Mac OS that you have now in a virtual machine for the handful tasks that truly require at? And run either a new version of Mac OS or Linux on the bare metal?
- jlokier 7y ago
  As explained, yes eventually, but it's not a mere handful of tasks, and the set of known/anticipated issues is too much to treat the change as trivial, especially when working on something else time critical, which I am. (I wouldn't run Linux on bare metal on a Macbook Pro though, because I already did some experiments and found it used less battery to run Linux under VMware Fusion, than to run the same Linux bare metal on the same machine. Counterintuitive perhaps. Maybe even wrong :-) but that's what I found at the time.)

harikb 7y ago

People have different reasons for not updating. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro that cannot run the latest patch on High Sierra and I have to stop right before the last known patch. Otherwise the machine goes to an infinite reboot loop. Apple doesn't care for a 9 yr old machine. But it is otherwise a fine piece of hardware - use upgradable HDD, battery etc. I still prefer that to my 2016 Macbook Pro that is a piece of shit machine.

nier 7y ago
It makes me sad that everything you wrote including the swearing is justified. If only at least one other manufacturer could come up with a decent trackpad.
grecy 7y ago
FWIW, I just bought a 2015 MBP and it's brilliant. It has the retina screen, old school keyboard, great trackpad "old USB", magsafe, SD card slot and HDMI. It will run the latest macOS no problem. If it ever dies, I might just get another one.
- otakucode 7y ago
  I hope the battery was replaced? There's a recall affecting the battery for mid-2015 MBPs. The batteries can explode even when not being charged and the system not in use, it's definitely worth complying with the recall (which they make very easy, I did it with mine right after the recall was announced and got mine back within 4 business days).
  - Fnoord 7y ago
    Not all mid 2015 MBPs are affected. I think it is only some 15". I own a 13" and 15" and neither are affected. You can verify that the battery is good on Apple's website, by checking out your MBP's serial.
  - grecy 7y ago
    As the comment lower said, it doesn't affect mine, I have a 13"