Aqua-Soft ForumsI was wondering if it is at all possible to trick OS X into thinking it had, say 10.4.10 installed, when really running 10.4.8? I don't want to do a software update, but some new software I'm getting requires 10.4.10, and I just want it to install, because it should run on 10.4.8.
Changing the version of OS X
You could try a different drive maybe.? Like clone your system onto an external, boot to the external, upgrade the external...... (I haven't tried this)
Impossible. I assume that the software requires 10.4.10 for a good reason, most likely an updated kernel.
why would you not want to update? its so easy!
Perhaps he is on a slow connection, and does not want to take the time to.
I was wondering if it is at all possible to trick OS X into thinking it had, say 10.4.10 installed, when really running 10.4.8? I don't want to do a software update, but some new software I'm getting requires 10.4.10, and I just want it to install, because it should run on 10.4.8.
Impossible. I assume that the software requires 10.4.10 for a good reason, most likely an updated kernel.
Trying to do this is a good way to hose your system, but I wouldn't say it's impossible...though it's possible it might depend on an updated kernel or some such, the company is also possibly just being cautious and doesn't feel like supporting older versions of OS X.
It really depends how the software in question checks for OS X 10.4.10. The first thing I found after some searching is version information in /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist
Make a backup somewhere safe, and, if you're feeling risky (and I accept no responsibility for what happens), go ahead and edit that file so that the two values that say 10.4.8 say 10.4.10 instead (this is what mine says), and then restart Finder or even your computer. Assuming your computer isn't dead (!), check "About this Mac," and if that's successfully changed, you may be finished.
-NC
There's nothing to worry about when updating OSX (well most of the time 
)
If you're really paranoid repair permissions and that's it.
And why wouldn't you want to update to 10.4.10?
Actually, there are ways to trick the software into installing on non 10.4.10 builds of OS X, but it doesn't work by changing the system version listed in /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist, but rather in the app itself.
Disable the system checks in the apps, and you should be set. But, it's still recommended that you upgrade, as the kernel and other system parts are improved upon, and many new apps will take advantage of this and run better than if you hacked them to run on lesser builds.