What’s New in macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 6 (20A5364e)

Today Apple released macOS Big Sur Beta 6 (20A5364e) to Developers

UPDATE: 9/10/20 – SMB network connections are not working in Big Sur Beta 6. You will get a connection error. “There was a problem connecting to xxx”. Contact your administrator”.

Workaround – sudo kmutil load -p /System/Library/Extensions/smbfs.kext

UPDATE: 6:05 PM CST – As of 2:38 PM CST the full installer of Beta 6 is now available.

UPDATE 1:30PM CST – As of 1:30 PM CST the Beta 6 full installer is not in Apple’s Software Update server yet. Only the BridgeOS and 3.29GB updates are available. I guess it’s possible that Beta 6 might not get a full installer? I will update if it becomes available.

MacOS Big Sur 11 Beta 6 (20A5364e) was released on Tuesday September 1st, 2020. 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 6 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 6 Patch Notes Summary

• 4 – New Features
• 4 – Resolved Issues
• 14 – New Known Issues
• 2 – AppleSeed Known Issues
• 3 – AppleSeed Announcements
• 5 – AppleSeed Resolved 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 = 5 Resolved Issues 3 Announcements & 2 Known Issues – appleseed.apple.com
• 1. macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6 is now supported for iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020). (67093251)
• 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)
• 3. macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6 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.

Previous Big Sur 11 Beta Releases

• 6. Big Sur 11 Beta 6 (20A5364e) – 09/03/20 – Current Release
• 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 = 12.17GB

Product ID = 001-43966

T2 BridgeOS Update

BridgeOS version was updated.

Size = 446.9MB

Product ID = 001-43961

BridgeOS Update Version = 18.16.12370.5.1

Previous = 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 6 (20A5364e) 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 beta 6, available from Beta Software Downloads. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 12 beta 6, see Xcode 12 Beta 6 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)

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• macOS Big Sur 11 beta 7 is now supported for iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020). (67093251)

AirDrop

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• AirDrop now works when System Integrity Protection is enabled. (67033173)

AppKit

• See AppKit Release Notes for macOS Big Sur 11.

Apple Security Bounty

• macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6 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.

Final Cut Pro and iMovie

Known Issues

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• The application no longer unexpectedly quits when using the Import Media window. (65543216)
• You can now capture video using either the built-in camera or external devices. (63528489)

Installer and Software Update

Known Issues

• You might be unable to update macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6, if Secure Boot is set to No Security. (63434409)
• 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

Known Issues

• DriverKit extensions might not function due to a permission issue. (67594339)Workaround: After building the extension but before installing it, run the following command: sudo -S chmod -R u=rw+X,go=r+X ./ <dext path>
• Third-party driver extensions don’t run after restarting your Mac. (67416908)Workaround: Reinstall the extension each time after you restart your Mac.

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• The command kmutil inspect no longer returns an error on Apple silicon Mac computers. (65804541)

Messages

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• Keyboard navigation to move focus between controls is now available. (63987810)

Safari and WebKit

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• When using WKWebView to request a URL using the HTTP POST method, WKNavigationAction.request.httpBody now returns the posted body content. (35087855)
• Applications that present modal UI in UIWebView delegate callbacks or that use JavaScript alert, confirm, and prompt no longer experience crashes under _WebThreadLock(). (64239727)

Spotlight

Known Issues

• If you can’t find an application using Spotlight, launch the application at least once using Finder. (64463806)

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.

New Features in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6

• The ImportFilesAction and ExportFilesAction APIs have been replaced with a collection of new view modifiers.
• Use the new .fileImporter() modifier to present a system interface for importing one or more files into your app, and the new .fileMover() modifier to move one or more existing files to a new location. The following is an example of a simple UI for importing and moving files:struct FileMover : View { @Binding var selectedFiles: [URL] var includeDirectories: Bool = false @State private var isImporting: Bool = false @State private var isMovingSelection: Bool = false var body: some View { List(selectedFiles, id: \.self) { url in Text(url.absoluteString) } .toolbar { Button("Import", action: { isImporting = true }) Button("Move", action: { isMovingSelection = true }) } .fileImporter( isPresented: $isImporting, allowedContentTypes: includeDirectories ? [.item, .directory] : [.item], allowsMultipleSelection: true ) { result in do { selectedFiles = try result.get() } catch { // Handle failure. } } .fileMover(isPresented: $isMovingSelection, files: selectedFiles) { if case .success = $0 { selectedFiles = [] } else { // Handle failure. } } }}
• Use the new .fileExporter() modifier to present a system interface for exporting one or more documents from your app. In this example, an app provides a simple note-taking interface for quickly jotting down some text and then exporting it to disk:struct QuickNote : View { @Binding var draft: QuickNoteDocument @State private var isExporting: Bool = false var body: some View { TextEditor(text: $draft.text) .toolbar { Button("Save", action: { isExporting = true }) } .fileExporter( isPresented: $isExporting, document: draft, contentType: .plainText, defaultFilename: "MyNote" ) { result in // Clear the draft now that it's saved. if case .success = result { draft.text = "" } else { // Handle failure. } } }} struct QuickNoteDocument : FileDocument { static var readableContentTypes: [UTType] { [.plainText] } var text: String init(text: String) { self.text = text } init(configuration: ReadConfiguration) throws { // Deserialize the document. } func fileWrapper(configuration: WriteConfiguration) throws -> FileWrapper { // Serialize the document. }}
• Use the new .fileMover() modifier to present a system interface for moving one or more existing files to a new location. (66182201)

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

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().

Widgets

Known Issues

• When set to My Location, the Weather widget might display weather for a different location. (66338250)

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.
• You’re currently unable to launch Mac Catalyst and iOS apps using Xcode. (67356581)