macOS macOS updates have changed
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Q How to obtain a ‘Combo’ updater for Ventura 13.5?
ASince Big Sur, macOS installers and updaters have been quite different from those of the past. Instead of just copying across system files to a volume on your startup disk, they now have more work to do to create the snapshot that forms the bootable system, to firmlink parts of that to its paired Data volume, and to secure the whole system using hashes to verify its integrity.
From Big Sur onwards, Apple has provided only two ways to update macOS: online updates, delivered through Software Update or its command-line equivalent, softwareupdate, or using a full installer app. Updates completed online automatically cater for different starting versions, so they can take any previous version of macOS 13 straight to the latest version, but that’s the only destination available. You don’t get any choice or flexibility.
Combo updaters of the past sometimes fixed problems with broken updates. That’s no longer necessary, as the hash system used to verify the integrity of the system ensures that it’s perfect down to the very last byte.
What you can do instead is install the macOS version of your choice. Those available can be listed in Terminal using the command softwareupdate --list-full-installers
and you could download the full 13.5 installer using sudo softwareupdate --fetch-fullinstaller --full-installer-version 13.5
then entering your password. You’ll then get an installer package containing the full installer app for macOS Ventura 13.5. Apple guarantees the result is identical to updating from any previous version of Ventura.