The purpose of MacUpdate 2.1 is to insure that a local Macintosh folder and all files and sub-folders within it are "up-to date" when compared with a mounted server volume (floppy volume, network volume, partition, or any volume). Sometimes this procedure is called “file synchronization”.
MacUpdate 2.1 checks each file’s modification date on the server volume against the modification date of the file with the same name on the local volume. If the server volume’s file’s date is later than the local volume’s file’s date, the newer file is copied from the server volume to the local volume (more precisely, to the folder on the local volume where MacUpdate 2.1 is). MacUpdate 2.1 also updates any sub-folders (and sub-sub-folders, etc. etc.) within the server volume’s folder.
The MacUpdate 2.1 application MUST reside in the folder that is desired to be kept “up-to-date”. By using the “Setup Dialog” (choose “Setup...” from the FILE menu), you can specify the server volume’s name, or tell MacUpdate to find a server volume with the same name as the local volume’s folder to be synchronized. You may optionally specify a path to use on the server volume. In this case, instead of updating from the entire server volume, the program will update starting at a specific folder on the server volume (it will still search the entire directory tree from the specified folder on down). An example of a valid path is ":My Disk:My Folder:My Inner Folder". In this example, only the files and folder inside the "My Inner Folder" folder will be updated to the local volume’s folder. Note that the path MUST begin with a colon (:) and that colons MUST separate folder names. If there is only one folder in the path, the leading colon may be omitted.
An alias of MacUpdate 2.1 may be put in the Startup Items folder inside of the System Folder, and this will insure that MacUpdate 2.1 is run each time the machine is powered up.
Of course, MacUpdate 2.1 can be run at any time simply by double clicking on it.
In the “Setup Dialog”, there is an option to update files when MacUpdate 2.1 is first run. If you put an alias of MacUpdate 2.1 in your Startup Items folder and also use this option, you must make sure the server volume is mounted at startup, or MacUpdate 2.1 will report that it could not find the server volume. If the server volume is an AppleTalk volume, this can be accomplished by checking the checkbox in the Chooser for the volume to be auto-mounted. If the server volume is a floppy or hard disk, the disk must be mounted at startup.
MacUpdate 2.1 can also be configured to run in the background and update files after a certain number of hours, or update files at a specific time of day (expressed in military time).
When in the background, MacUpdate 2.1 can be brought to the foreground by using the Finder’s Application menu (next to the help menu on the right side of the menu bar). An update may be done at any time by choosing “MacUpdate...” from the File Menu. DON’T QUIT if you still want MacUpdate 2.1 to do background updating!
If the background options are OFF, you will not be able to use the menus. To get to the “Setup Dialog” in this case, double click on the MacUpdate 2.1 icon as usual, then immediately click and HOLD a third time. Hold down the mouse button until the “Setup Dialog” appears. If the update scan window appears, you did not hold down the mouse button at the right time, or for a long enough period of time.
MacUpdate 2.1 can be configured to NOT copy application programs. If applications are running from the local volume’s folder, they should NOT be updated (in fact, they WILL NOT update properly). In this case, “No APPLs” checkbox should be turned on, and application programs will not be updated.
You may configure MacUpdate to copy from the server volume’s folder any files and folders that it can not find on the local volume’s folder. (It must create them, first). This may be done from the “Setup Dialog”. MacUpdate 2.1 ignores any "extra" files on the local volume’s folder.
Typically, the MacUpdate 2.1 program can verify 200 files with a total file size of 2.0 MB in about 5 seconds on AppleTalk. THIS ASSUMES NO UPDATING OCCURS. If any file on the local Macintosh is not up-to-date, it will be copied from the server, and this will SIGNIFICANTLY add to the program run time. The same 200 files (2.0 MB worth of data) takes 8 to 10 minutes to be copied (Assuming ALL 200 files need to be updated).
Usually, only a few files will be out-of-date, and you should experience average run times of less than 2 minutes (On AppleTalk, depending on the number of out-of-date files, the out-of-date files' sizes, and network/server activity. EtherNet performance should be better).
If you are using Symantec AntiVirus (SAM), you need to know that MacUpdate 2.1 Bypasses the Resource Manager. If you get warnings to this effect, you may consider clicking on the LEARN button, otherwise you will have to click on the ALLOW button MANY, MANY times.
The update scan can be canceled by holding down the Command key and hitting the period key. Canceling will happen AFTER any current file is finished being copied.
Please contact the author listed at the top of this document with any bug reports, or suggestions for improvement.
