What’s New in macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 8 (20A5374i)?

Today Apple released macOS Big Sur Beta 8 (20A5374i) to Developers

UPDATE 9/23/20 – Beta 8 Issues

• Big Sur Beta 8 does not have a full installer, hopefully we will get one when Beta 9 hits in a week or two.
• No changes or additional notes to Screen Recording controls, it was noted in Beta 7 that we would get some sort of MDM controls for this for standard users.
• Active Directory login is not working in Beta 8 after an upgrade. Was working fine in Beta 6 and 7.

You can take a look at my Beta 7 article, it has a list of current standing issues that might not have been fixed in Beta 8 yet.

mrmacintosh.com/whats-new-in-macos-big-sur-11-beta-7-20a5374g/

MacOS Big Sur 11 Beta 8 (20A5374i) was released on September 22nd, 2020 only 7 days after Beta 7! MacOS Catalina had 11 beta releases including the gold master, so we are getting close to release. Beta 8 is very small and only includes one noted fix in the developer notes. I am still waiting to see if any changes are listed around screen recording or if we get a full installer. I will update as soon.

During the Big Sur beta release cycle, only the current beta patch notes are available. When a new beta is released the previous patch notes are overwritten. I compare both sets of release notes so I find the changes.

If you are having issues getting Beta 8 to show up in Software Update, take a look at my Big Sur Beta troubleshooting article. – mrmacintosh.com/big-sur-11-beta-not-showing-up-in-software-update-troubleshooting/

Keep an eye on my Big Sur Need to Know changes article. I will be constantly updating it as new info comes in. mrmacintosh.com/macos-big-sur-11-0-updated-index-of-need-to-know-changes-links/

macOS Big Sur Beta 8 Patch Notes Summary

• Installer Note
• New Features
• 1 – Resolved Issues
• New Known Issues
• 0 – AppleSeed Known Issues

AppleSeed Notes Link = appleseed.apple.com/

Developer Public Link = developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-big-sur-11-beta-release-notes

Apple DTK Mac Mini Notes = developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-big-sur-11-universal-apps-beta-release-notes

MacAdmin Patch Notes of Interest

• AppleSeed = No changes – appleseed.apple.com
• 1. Note: Apple did not provide a full installer for Beta 8.
• 2. Updating to macOS Big Sur 11 beta from previous versions of macOS might take significantly longer than expected. Data loss could occur if the update is interrupted. (59101197)

Previous Big Sur 11 Beta Releases

• 8. Big Sur 11 Beta 8 (20A5374i) – 09/22/20 – Current Release
• 7. Big Sur 11 Beta 7 (20A5374g) – 09/17/20 – My Release Notes
• 6. Big Sur 11 Beta 6 (20A5364e) – 09/03/20 – My Release Notes
• 5. Big Sur 11 Beta 5 (20A5354i) – 08/19/20 – My Release Notes
• 4. Big Sur 11 Beta 4 (20A5343i) – 08/04/20
• 3. Big Sur 11 Beta 3 (20A5323l) – 07/22/20
• 2. Big Sur 11 Beta 2 (20A4300b) – 07/07/20 – My Release Notes
• 1. Big Sur 11 Beta 1 (20A4299v) – 06/22/20 – My Release Notes

macOS Big Sur 11 Installer Info

Full Installer.app

Link – developer.apple.com or installinstallmacos.py

Size = Waiting on Full installer??

Product ID =

Big Sur Beta Delta Update

This is the update is for updating from Beta 7 > Beta 8

Size = 2.34GB

Product ID =

Big Sur Beta Combo Update

This is update should be for updating from Beta 1-6 > Beta 8

Size = 3.61GB

Product ID =

T2 BridgeOS Update

BridgeOS version is the same with only a BuildVersion change to 3

Size = 443.1MB

Product ID = 001-49906

BridgeOS Update Version =18.16.12380 BuildVersion 3

• 3. Previous Beta 7 = 18.16.12380
• 2. Previous Beta 6 = 18.16.12370.5.1
• 1. Previous Beta 5 = 18.16.10358.5.2

New Software Update Catalog URL

https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.16seed-10.16-10.15-10.14-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

Report Bugs NOW!

Now that macOS Big Sur 11.0 Beta is live, start testing as soon as you can! You will want to submit any bugs that you find into Apple ASAP. If you get bugs in quickly, they could be fixed in the current beta cycle instead of waiting until after the public release. If not, you could be waiting months before the fix is put into a dot release combo update.

macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 8 (20A5374i) Release Notes

Overview

The macOS 11 SDK provides support to develop apps for Macs running macOS Big Sur 11. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 12.2 beta, available from Beta Software Downloads. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 12.2, see Xcode 12.2 Beta Release Notes.

General

Known Issues

Important

Updating to macOS Big Sur 11 beta from previous versions of macOS might take significantly longer than expected. Data loss could occur if the update is interrupted. (59101197)

AppKit

• See AppKit Release Notes for macOS Big Sur 11.

Apple Security Bounty

• macOS Big Sur 11 beta 8 is designated as qualifying for the 50% Apple Security Bounty bonus payment for issues that are unknown to Apple or reintroduced in this release. See Apple Security Bounty for more information.

Installer and Software Update

Known Issues

• When updating from macOS Big Sur 11 beta 2 to macOS Big Sur 11 beta 3 or later, you might be offered an unexpectedly large download rather than an incremental software update. (65753086)Workaround: Under the “Another update is available” text, click the “More info…” link. This will reveal the incremental update where you can click the Install Now button.
• You might need to adjust Energy Saver settings so your Mac doesn’t go to sleep while preparing to install macOS Big Sur 11 beta. (63166401)
• If macOS Big Sur 11 beta is installed into the same APFS container as previous versions of macOS Catalina 10.15, system software updates can no longer be installed on the previous versions of macOS. (64411484)Workaround: Update the previous version of macOS Catalina to 10.15.6.

Kernel

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 8

• An issue with the kernel no longer causes applications to quit unexpectedly. (69093270)

SwiftUI

Known Issues

• ProgressView generic type signature has changed, adding the currentValueLabel generic parameter. This change doesn’t require any source changes, but will cause apps compiled using an earlier beta SDK to quit unexpectedly. (63580200)Workaround: Re-compile apps for macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 6 or later to resolve this issue.
• Drag-and-drop actions can sometimes fail when dropping on dynamic view content. (68281403)
• Dynamically updating OutlineGroup content can fail to update correctly or cause an application to quit unexpectedly. (58820037)
• DisclosureGroup’s isExpanded binding does not work as expected in a List. (58820037)
• Some standard menu items, such as Open Recents or Window menu items, are missing from the main menu. (63998004)

Third-Party Apps

Known Issues

• You might experience kernel panics when using earlier versions of Parallels Desktop 16. (67358596)Workaround: Upgrade to the most-recent version of Parallels Desktop 16.
• Some third-party scripts might produce unexpected results due to the change in macOS version from 10.x to 11. (62477208)Workaround: Set SYSTEM_VERSION_COMPAT=1 in the calling environment, for example: $ SYSTEM_VERSION_COMPAT=1 legacy_script.pl

UIKit

Known Issues

• After using the new detectPatternsForPatterns:completionHandler: Pasteboard API, the pasteboard might return empty data. (67857457)Workaround: Use the detectValuesForPatterns:completionHandler: API, if you need access to the values that match the detected patterns.

Wallet

Known Issues

• isPassLibraryAvailable() doesn’t ensure uniform availability of pass library functionality between platforms and devices. (60697880)Workaround: Call a more specific API to check available functionality, such as canAddPasses().

Xcode

Known Issues

• Legacy Xcode versions prior to 11.5 might unexpectedly quit when launched. (59991056)Workaround: Run the following command in Terminal: defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode DVTDisableMainThreadChecker 1, then deselect Main Thread Checker in the Diagnostic tab of the Run and Test actions for each scheme in your project.
• The Command Line Tools package for Xcode 12.2 beta isn’t currently available. (69012274)

Big Sur Beta 8