QuickTime 6.0.2 Released

Hungus writes "QuickTime 6.0.2 is now released from Apple and is available either via web download or via Software Update." I'd seen word that it was available earlier, but it wasn't available for me via Software Update until today. Software Update reports that this release "provides performance and reliability enhancements."

Comments

Requires working Perl

[Sulka]

Interestingly, Apple uses Perl for OS X installer scripts. The Quicktime installer requires you have a Perl installation which works without having any environment variables being set using your own .bashrc (or whichever shell you're using). I recently upgraded my perl to 5.8.0 using instructions kindly provided by Apple only to now find out their instructions break Software Update.

I've sent them feedback but haven't yet got a reply. Nice going...

Two notes

[cei]

1. Requires a reboot. You'd think they'd be able to overcome that, especially for an update or patch to libraries...

2. After said restart, my first launch of Mail wants me to re-authorize Keychain to let it use my passwords to get my mail. Why would updating a QuickTime library have anything to do with my security settings?

Re:Two notes

[Anonymous Coward]

You are correct. The keychain uses a checksum of the binary in order to ensure that the Mail application trying to access a keychain item today is the same Mail app you, the user, gave authorization to do so yesterday. A software update usually updates the prebinding info in all executables, which results in a change to the checksum, hence the requirement to re-authorize access.

If it weren't for this check, somebody could have replaced your Mail application with a Trojan and get access to your keychain.

(Of course this applies to all apps, not just Mail).

Re:Two notes

[mrpuffypants]

interesting that this demonstrates just how stable OS X is...when something that happens every reboot people don't know what it looks like :)

I almost never reboot my iBook, for me it's just: close the lid, go somewhere, open it up and keep going

Essential QT supplement for Unix nerds

[babbage]

While you're upgrading your copy of Quicktime, you might also want to poke around Apple's developer's site & download their ASCIIMoviePlayer.

Yes, that's right -- in just 200 or so well documented lines of C, Apple shows you how to get your Mac's Quicktime libraries to output high quality video as ....ascii. Eat your heart out, "Star Wars ascii guy" -- ever feel let down that you couldn't watch your home movie collection from work? Now all you need to do is open up a remote shell & play them in your Terminal/xterm/PuTTY window...

:-)

obReference: found out about this from MacOSXHints.com earlier this week, and have been amused by it ever since...

Re:Essential QT supplement for Unix nerds

[babbage]

Actually, the comments made it look like you're meant to run light text on a dark background, which probably explains the luminence hack.

On a related note, I found out about a color version of the software, available (again with source etc) from this site. I'm sure this can be pushed in all sorts of ways (command line flags for color or "greyscale" or without color afjustment, command line hints for the desired image geometry, etc), but I don't know nearly enough C to feel comfortable with such a project (being a lowly Perl hacker & hardly an expert at that).

Other observations: [a] it can take any file that Quicktime can present, including video & still images (the thought that this program or something like it could attempt to render audio into an ascii movie is too terrifying & wonderful for me to grapple with yet), [b] you should be able to save the output it produces with /usr/bin/script, save it as a "plain" text file, and then play it back on any vt100ish terminal application, up to & including vt100 terminals if you have any laying around. This too is almost too terrible & wonderful for me to properly grapple with yet :-)