Following the release of macOS High Sierra, Mac users have discovered that Apple is no longer listing previous operating system updates in a user's Purchased tab in the Mac App Store.
Neither macOS Sierra nor macOS High Sierra show up in the Purchased list, suggesting the updates are no longer tied to an Apple ID account. Previous Mac software updates were linked to an Apple ID account and updating required an Apple ID and password, something that could be a hassle when a Mac changed ownership.
An Apple support document on reinstalling apps confirms that the change to remove macOS Sierra and High Sierra from the Purchased tab was intentional.
"macOS Sierra or later doesn't appear in the Purchased tab," reads the document.
In the case of macOS Sierra, the change means that there's no way for Mac users to download macOS Sierra should they want to downgrade from High Sierra for some reason.
OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite, OS X Mavericks, and earlier updates are all tied to a user account and listed in the Mac App Store. Apple has also made a link to the OS X El Capitan update available through a support document, but no similar support document is available for macOS Sierra.
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http://osxapps.itunes.apple.com/apple-assets-us-std-000001/Purple62/v4/af/5f/9d/af5f9d8e-cf9c-8147-c51c-c3c1fececb99/jze1425880974225146329.pkg
mas install 1127487414
purchased*, downloaded, and installed version 10.12.6 of
which then verified
[jtm@socrates ~]$ codesign -dv /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app
Executable=/Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/MacOS/InstallAssistant_springboard
Identifier=com.apple.InstallAssistant.Sierra
Format=app bundle with Mach-O thin (x86_64)
CodeDirectory v=20200 size=321 flags=0x2200(kill,library-validation) hashes=4+3 location=embedded
Signature size=4605
Info.plist entries=30
TeamIdentifier=K36BKF7T3D
Sealed Resources version=2 rules=7 files=137
Internal requirements count=1 size=124
and worked
correctly.
* By which I mean, the program not only downloaded Sierra, it did so using the Apple-supplied App Store frameworks in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks, resulting in an application bundle containing a properly-signed MAS receipt linked to my Apple ID.
This thread is about why Apple have completely removed it from download, without any previous notice or comment as to why, post-High Sierra's release. Rather than how clever you are in having a copy already.
Thanks!
E.g. I have a mission critical business app on iOS which is 32 bit. Yes it would be nice if it were updated to 64 bit but it's not going to happen in this case, yet it's the backbone of my
business. So I'm stuck at iOS 10. And if I have to restore my phone from a backup I'm screwed :-/.
Equally our desktop machines run a vastly complicated set of audio and video plugins. Just one of them not being compatible with high sierra means I can't load up older work.
For professional work we need an option to maintain a system with an older OS. Please rethink your philosophy here.