[OS X TeX] i-Installer 2.78 released

[Gerben Wierda]

i-Installer 2.78 has been released. i-Installer is again a universal
application (runs natively on x86 and ppc hardware).

Bottom line: i-Installer 2.78 is safe to use (of course as far as I know
and as with any software distribution: use at your own risk) and will not
even trigger the OS X freeze bug on an 10.4.6 + QT 7.1 system.

I would like to explain the issues that I know of regarding i-Installer
releases and OS X releases and the problems that have plagued me (us).

- i-Installer 2.76 was a universal binary which ran OK on any OS X version
until 10.4.3, but had problems on OS X 10.4.4 and 10.4.5 on intel (hanging
installs).
- Hence, i-Installer 2.77 was quickly released as a ppc-only binary. This
ran fine on any system up to 10.4.5.
- On 10.4.6, especially but not exclusively when updated with QT 7.1, the
ppc-binary of i-Installer triggered an OS X bug where the system would
partially freeze.
- i-Installer 2.78 is again a universal (x86 and ppc) binary. It does not
trigger the OS X 10.4.6 partial freeze bug. It even protects the user from
the freeze by *not* running when run under Rosetta on x86 under 10.4.6. It
also contains another possibly important fix.

I do not know if the hanging issues that plagued i-Installer 2.76 on
10.4.4 and 10.4.5 x86 have been fixed by the changes in i-Installer 2.78
but it is possible. I am reasonably confident that i-Installer on 10.4.6
is as stable as it should be (this should read "can be", given Apple's
track record with the recent updates).

I know that there is still a problem that has plagued i-Installer for a
long time now: the loss of the final error output of subprocesses. This is
still under investigation, but as it looks now it has no releation to any
of the problems mentioned above and as it looks now the problem is indeed
harmless (as long assumed). I do intend to follow this one through,
though, as with the current OS X instabilities I cannot afford to have
even one open end in my application.

G

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