Mac OS X 10.0.1 is out; it's Build 4L13; Software Update Epson Drivers & Darwin updates also out

Apple has released an update to Mac OS X. It's now 10.0.1 (Build 4L13). There is still no documentation from Apple on what has changed, except for this brief note on Apple's Mac OS X web page:

Update Now: Use the Software Update feature in your System Preferences to get the latest Mac OS X software. Improvements including better support for 3rd party USB devices, Classic compatibility and overall application stability as well as support for the popular open source Secure Shell service. For Japanese users, an update to the Epson printer drivers is also available.

Software Update 1.3.1 We started with a manual update via the Software Update System Preferences. It said that a Software Update 1.3.1 was out. The Read Me file for the software states:

Software Update 1.3.1 delivers improved network performance, support for proxy authentication, improved status recording, and resolves an issue for MP systems.

[Correction: We initially stated this was an update to the Software Update System Preferences; we then switched to thinking it was actually the Darwin 1.3.1 Update. We are now going back to our original assertion. This is actually an update to the Software Update System Preferences. This can be best confirmed by selecting the Show Info window for the Software Update application in System/Library/CoreServices and the Software Update Preferences file in System Library Preferences. They both state "Software Update version 1.3.1." Unfortunately, if you launch the application, the About window still says 1.0. However, also considering the description in the Read Me file, we are now convinced this is the update to the System Preference.]

Apparently, you must download and install Software Update before you can get the OS X Update. We downloaded and installed this successfully; it took just a couple of minutes.

You do not need to restart at this point. However, we chose to do so. When we restarted, it booted into Mac OS 9.1 and, when the desktop appeared, immediately began to rebuild the desktop for both our partitions. It took an unusually long time to do the OS X partition (like about 15 minutes). This all may have been an oddity on our drive; your mileage may< vary!

After it was over, we went to the Startup Disk control panel. We selected Mac OS X (it still said "Build 4K78," not surprisingly) and restarted. Mac OS X started up successfully.

Mac OS X 10.0.1 We selected Software Update again. This time it said that Mac OS X 10.0.1 was available. It is 4.1 MB in size. However, you need at least 300MB of free disk space to install it. We selected to install it. It did so successfully. We restarted and it immediately booted in Mac OS X this time. The About This Mac window now says "Build 4L13." There is no immediate indication of what the new files are. The Read Me file for the software states:

The 10.0.1 Update for Mac OS X delivers support for iTunes, improved USB compatibility, as well as stability and performance improvements. [We have already noticed a speed improvement when launching applications!]

Epson Printer Drivers 1.1 If you try Software Update a third time, you'll get Epson Printer Drivers 1.1 Update. This will "enable printing for the Japanese language." If you have an Epson printer (such as our 900N) that does not yet work with Mac OS X, don't expect this update to fix it.

Note: The SoftwareUpdate131.pkg, the 10.0.01Update.pkg, and the EpsonPrintDrivers.pkg installer package files can be found in Library/Receipts. By using the Contextual Menu command to Show Package Contents, you can get a closer look at what is actually installed. You can also launch them to run the Installers from the desktop (although these are by no means the full installers and will not actually install the update).

When we used Sherlock to check what files and folders had been recently modified, it listed almost 500. We are not sure if all of these are due to the Updates installed (some files get modified at each restart).

Darwin An Open Source version of Apple's Darwin OS update 1.3.1 is also available. Darwin is the core of Mac OS X. The Darwin kernel is based on FreeBSD and Mach 3.0 technologies and provides protected memory and pre-emptive multitasking. We believe, but are not yet certain, that this Darwin update is included as part of Mac OS X 10.0.1.