Updating Xcode

[DaveC]

argh! I've been trying to update Xcode from 4.1 to the latest 4.21 but I can't get it working.. I have to go through the App Store right? So I downloaded the update and it installed, I restarted the mac and it's still Xcode version 4.1!!!! If I go back into the App store and look at Xcode it says "installed". In the updates tab there is no option to download an update anymore... so I'm forever stuck in 4.1. Should I try to completely uninstall Xcode and start over? (I sure hope not, it took me 2 god damn days just to download the update) speaking of... I have no idea how to uninstall something on a mac.

[DistantJ]

It's silly, but the App Store puts the installer in your Applications folder, so navigate to your Applications folder and you'll find the new Xcode installer in there. I had trouble with this one too.

To uninstall something on a mac simply just delete it! Either X it out iPad style in the Launcher, or if it doesn't let you do it there, delete it from the Applications folder. Mac Apps generally are all inside one file (a package file) so it doesn't deal with the whole 'program files scattered around the entire computer' issue Windows does.

Except some programs... Which are stupid.

[DaveC]

haha argh found it... why does it have to be so random seriously, why does it put the installer in the applications folder.? madness! Oh well, back on track! cheers!

[DistantJ]

Always happy to help!

Such a strange thing isn't it... I guess they leave people to work Xcode and the like out, same with the certificate signing process etc. being so convoluted, I think sometimes they're trying to filter out dumb people...

But yeah, usually the App Store installs something by putting an app into the Applications folder, but the app which you downloaded was an installer... It's very weird.

[DaveC]

I got confused because in the app store said downloading, then Installing, then installed! haha you would think that means it's installed.. but no.. oh Apple.. :/

in their quest to filter out the dumb people they are also filtering out logical thinkers xD

[DistantJ]

Yeah I think it was 'installing the installer', arm, think of it like, everything else on the App store can be installed as a package, straight from the App store... app... Except Xcode, because it's more complicated, so the App store doesn't tell you any other way because of how it works. Just wish they'd have put some kind of explanation or instruction on the store.

[Paul_Boland]

One thing I don't like about the Mac (I have a few dislikes, and I have a few likes too), is there is no uninstaller. I know it's just a matter of dragging the the program icon to the bin, but for Xcode it gives you some sort of command line to type at the command prompt and I've always had problems getting that to work. Now when I get an update, I just install it over my old Xcode install. But just as Microsoft could learn a few things from Mac OS, Apple could learn a few things from Windows.

[DistantJ]

I often have a problem with Apple fanboys' attitudes towards borrowing from Windows. Windows is always learning (or stealing?) from Mac OS, and getting better all the time because of it, whilst Apple fans always insist that "the least like Windows the better" to the point that they will insist that Apple refuse to use a handy feature because it's in Windows. For example I remember trying to find out how to make folders appear first when arranging by type (because folders count as 'Folder', they appear as if their file type began with F) and for a while all I could find was people asking how to do this and Apple fans shooting them down saying they were idiots for wanting it to be like Windows.

Now I sort of agree with Apple that an app shouldn't need uninstallers and the like (honestly I think people expect uninstallers because they're used to them, logically one should be able to see the program and just delete it then and there, like you do on mobile devices), it shouldn't be any more complicated than just dragging something into the trash or hitting the delete button, but my problem is that on Lion, certain programs can't be uninstalled from launchpad and so you have to do it manually from the Apps folder (the Apps folder was the default way of accessing Apps back in Snow Leopard), you never really know if dragging it to the trash is going to remove the whole thing or if there will be left over library files dotting around wasting space.