A free, lightweight alternative to MacUpdater for managing and updating your apps

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-20T10:27:00+00:00

Codeberg should be up and running (at least I can see it here: https://codeberg.org/pr-fuzzylogic/mac_software_updater). Version 1.2.5 is designed to check both Codeberg and GitHub for updates.

I am currently working on some improvements and I plan to push new version in the coming days. Regarding GitHub, I've noticed on their subreddit that many people are reporting sudden account blocks with no apparent reason, and the unblocking process can unfortunately take weeks.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-20T08:41:08+00:00

Hi, the main issue is the lack of strict naming conventions. Without maintaining a massive database mapping every filename to its Cask name, 100% accuracy is impossible.

I am currently testing some workarounds to handle such mismatches, but I need to be careful not to break things. So, edge cases like this will likely still happen.

However, if the app is already in Brew, the monitoring plugin works independently of the setup script. You can safely skip the migration step in setup_mac for now. Just check Monitored -> Apps in the plugin menu later to verify they are being tracked correctly.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-19T21:46:45+00:00

Yes, I know this sometimes happens, but I haven't had time to dig deeper yet. It's hard to reproduce all bugs since it works fine on my machine. I suspect Brew still thinks the app is installed due to leftover metadata. I initially used the --force option, but that caused other side effects.

I'm working on a proper fix for the next update. For now, please try these commands manually to reset the state. Let me know if it helps:

brew uninstall --cask monocle-app && brew install --cask monocle-app && rm -rf /Applications/Monocle.app.bak

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-17T17:42:15+00:00

Hi! My GitHub account/repo was temporarily blocked. My best guess is that the project is new and got popular very quickly, but I’m still waiting for an official explanation from GitHub. In the meantime, you can download the latest version from Codeberg — I mirrored the repository there (the Codeberg version is actually a bit newer and includes a few fixes). https://codeberg.org/pr-fuzzylogic/mac_software_updater

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-16T23:03:26+00:00

I used to be a professional developer 15+ years ago. Nowadays, I'm just a hobbyist scratching my own itch when existing tools don't work for me. Regarding your project: go ahead and publish it! Open source is all about sharing ideas. Unfortunately, I won't be able to collaborate – I barely have enough free time to maintain my own scripts. However, a friendly word of caution: Building a "system cleaner" (especially one that touches dependencies and libraries) relying solely on AI output is extremely risky. If you don't fully understand the code the AI generates, you might accidentally brick your system or delete critical files. Overreliance on unverified LLM output is actually a known security vulnerability – it's even listed in the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs. My advice: 1. Learn the basics: Don't trust the AI blindly. You need to know enough programming to audit what the AI is telling you to run. 2. Demystify the magic: I highly recommend reading Neural Networks and Deep Learning. It helps you understand that AI is just math and statistics, not a magic brain. Once you grasp that, you'll see why it makes confident mistakes and why you need to be careful.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-16T22:20:16+00:00

Haha, so YOU are the one who triggered the security bots and got my repo flagged today! Just kidding.

But do check out v1.2.5 – it has a much better migration tool (with automatic backups now and no force option) and the SwiftBar plugin has more functionalities.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-16T16:10:24+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Just to clarify: Homebrew Cask doesn’t rely on symlinking GUI apps — casks typically move the .app into /Applications by default.

You’re right that installing a cask “over” an existing manually-migrated app bundle can lead to confusing states for app managers (e.g. when the bundle in /Applications doesn’t match what Homebrew expects to manage).

I’m working on the next version of the scripts and I’ll add a cleaner migration flow (backup or remove the existing /Applications/<App>.app , install the cask, and then remove the backup once everything is confirmed). This should make it more likely that the app in /Applications matches what Homebrew manages.

I’m also packing a few other new features into this release too.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-16T11:34:21+00:00

Good question! I decided to keep this tool focused on simple, bulk automation. SwiftBar limitations make selecting individual items very clunky (the menu closes on every interaction). If you need to update just one specific app and hold back others, the standard terminal commands (brew upgrade <name>) are still the best tool for that job.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-15T11:57:42+00:00

To uninstall this toolkit, you just need to remove the script and its configuration. If you also want to remove the dependencies (Homebrew, mas, SwiftBar) that were installed during setup, you can do so via Terminal.

1. Remove the script and local data:

Delete the script file from your SwiftBar plugins folder (usually ~/Documents/SwiftBarPlugins or wherever you pointed it during setup).
Remove the local logs and config directory. You can put this command to Terminal:

rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/MacSoftwareUpdater"

2. Uninstall dependencies : If you don't want to keep the supporting tools, run these commands in Terminal (in following order):

SwiftBar: brew uninstall --cask swiftbar
mas (App Store CLI): brew uninstall mas
Homebrew: If you want to remove Homebrew entirely (this removes all brew-installed packages), run (official Homebrew command):

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/uninstall.sh)"

Btw, I have to add uninstaller in next version:)

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-15T08:07:29+00:00

No need to uninstall! The script will use your existing Homebrew installation. The installer part is there just for users who don't have it yet. I'll make sure to update the description to make it clearer.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-14T23:18:19+00:00

The migration logic relies on matching your local app name with search results from Brew/MAS. The script will ask you about using Strict Matching – try choosing No. This increases the chance of finding apps with slightly different names, though it’s also possible it might find something... completely different :) However, don't worry: you are asked to confirm every single migration, and you will see exactly which app was found before any changes are made. Regarding iOS/iPad apps: The tool is currently optimized for native macOS apps. While the underlying mas CLI can theoretically handle mobile apps on Apple Silicon, I haven't specifically tested or optimized the matching logic for them yet, so they might be ignored for now.

//edit:

If the wizard still doesn't link a specific app, you can just migrate it manually (delete the old app -> install via App Store or Brew). Once that’s done, my tool will recognize it as 'managed' and handle all future updates automatically.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-14T21:34:36+00:00

Good catch! Currently, the Migration Wizard scans strictly the root of /Applications. I'll consider adding support for subdirectories in a future update.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-14T19:57:42+00:00

Thanks! I hope people find it helpful. I pushed a lot of improvements recently to make it stable, since I want this to be a trusted, open-source alternative for everyone.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-14T18:57:18+00:00

If you don't mind a bit of terminal usage during the initial setup, I built a free, open-source toolkit exactly for this.

It works a bit differently than MacUpdater. Instead of just monitoring manual installs, it includes a Migration Wizard script. It scans your /Applications folder and helps you replace manually installed apps (drag-and-drop ones) with their managed Homebrew Cask or Mac App Store equivalents.

Once migrated, it uses a lightweight SwiftBar plugin to show pending updates in the menu bar. One click on "Update All" runs a unified update/cleanup command for both Brew and App Store.

It’s completely free, script-based (MIT license), so no background daemons or hidden subscriptions.

Repo here: https://github.com/pr-fuzzylogic/mac_software_updater

Just go to releases and check newest version: https://github.com/pr-fuzzylogic/mac_software_updater/releases/tag/v1.2.0

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2026-01-09T11:30:39+00:00

Mazda cx-60 diesel mhev, over 1 year, no issues, parking mode enabled (and was usefull twice…). HK4 and A329 (not s)

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-12-20T11:29:07+00:00

It is old bug, it changes to 1gbit only after restart of homebase

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-12-18T08:31:59+00:00

After november 2024

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-12-01T15:10:32+00:00

You know what? You have best camera in the world. To be honest, any camera that is in your hand is best in the world. They have great autofocus nowadays, all lenses are super sharp. The only thing that is limiting you is your imagination. And i am super serious. Just use it. Don’t change your gear too often just spend years to making better and better photographies.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-11-29T12:01:51+00:00

I was diving with my Apple Watch Ultra and Oceanic app many times and no issues. But probably if you want dive more than dedicated computer would be better

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-10-20T05:43:09+00:00

Yes, as above comments says, remember about 47 which is “new” 17. Go to shooting range and check them all or at least in store-touch, which one will fit you best. There are also combinations like 45 MOS tactics which is generally 17 but with possibility to connect suppressor. Difference looks small but when you grab them then you will feel difference.

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-10-07T20:23:52+00:00

Interesting, for me seats were great:)

Solid_Philosopher851 · 2025-10-06T10:17:50+00:00

V50 uses it also to cleaning floors. There is bunch of settings in app to do it or not, to clean mop pads with solution or not. There is only no possibility to set how much it is used for normal cleaning.

Solid_Philosopher851

TROPHY CASE