[GUIDE] Updating and maintaining OpenCore (NEW METHOD!)

[Guest 5T33Z0]

Last Update: July 26th, 2022. Guide moved to my github repo.

 

I removed this guide from InsanelyMac in response to behaviors of toxic moderators like Hervé and Maldon who think they can mock me and misuse their powers. You mock me - I remove Content! Consider this a sanction!

Edited August 7, 2022 by 5T33Z0
Update

[Cyberdevs]

 

58 minutes ago, 5T33Z0 said:

Since there is no tool out yet to update the bootloader files and config automatically most of it has to be done manually (for now).

@5T33Z0

Nice guide thanks; I think you forgot (or haven't used) a very useful tool by @Pavo called OC-Gen-X which helps to build and configure latest version of OpenCore and the kexts for various systems.

I just thought you might wanna add it to your guide.

[Cyberdevs]

@5T33Z0 I don't see any advanced features for editing the text but I can see the extra spaces between some parts of the post.

[alberbrando]

Great guide.I have read it and add some things to my configuration.Thanks.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

+++ URGENT UPDATE +++

 

Regarding Updating OpenCore 073:  During development of OpenCore 0.7.3, the structure of the UEFI > Drivers section was changed from a simple Array with Strings to an Array with Dictionary entries for each Driver, providing additional options to enable/disable and assigning extra arguments to them. If the structure isn't adapted during updating OpenCore, you won't have the Boot Picker GUI  and your system won't boot because the Drivers are not loaded. To fix this, open the sample.plist and copy the required entries from Drivers > UEFI to your config.

 

Old Structure (< 0.7.3):

 

New Structure (≥ 073)

 

Once you applied the changes everything will be back to normal.

[ic005k]

Thanks for sharing!
The easiest way to upgrade OC is to use OCAT to open your configuration file, save it, and then select "Sync OC Main Program" on the toolbar.

 

OCAT can be downloaded here: https://github.com/ic005k/QtOpenCoreConfig

[Guest 5T33Z0]

@ic005k Thanks for the info. I will test it later and incorporate it in the guide. Are there any plans in the future to make it look less like a Windows program more macOS-like?

[ic005k]

2 hours ago, 5T33Z0 said:

Are there any plans in the future to make it look less like a Windows program more macOS-like?

Of course, I'm more than happy to make any reasonable improvements to the app, including the UI, as time allows.
Any suggestions on the UI or other parts of the app are always welcome, thank you.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

@ic005k Thanks, I will have to work with it a bit more until I make suggestions. But the way it updates the config automatically to the latest feature set is really incredible. Doing this manually before was soooooo much work if the EFI was old. Now it's 2 clicks basically. Thanks for that!

[ic005k]

On 3/15/2021 at 6:19 PM, 5T33Z0 said:

if you added any additional files to the EFI folder that were not present

At this point, you can single or multiple select these files and drag and drop them directly to the corresponding interface of OCAT, such as ACPI->Add, Kernel->Add, etc.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

@ic005k I have a feature request: can you please make OCAT NOT delete my custom entries in the root of the config, please?  I really need these entries.

 

Config before editing in OCAT:

Config after saving in OCAT:

 

[ic005k]

8 hours ago, 5T33Z0 said:

can you please make OCAT NOT delete my custom entries in the root of the config, please?  I really need these entries.

Ok, no problem, will implement it in the next release.

[ic005k]

@5T33Z0It has been updated, please download the latest release.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

@ic005k Thanks a lot. Is there a way to switch OCAT into a "nightly" mode, so it doesn't update the structure of the config when editing/saving? This would be really useful when working with nightly builds of the next OpenCore version which might have features that are not implemented into the app yet.

 

More desirable Features:

- Dragging and Dropping entries by mouse in Text lists would be nice (ACPI, Device Properties  and Kernel Section)

- Inclusion of a Kext Updater

- inclusion of a HEX converter.

 

A suggestion for the ESP Mounter: It would be nice if it also showed the actual name of the drive/container and not just the volume identifier (disk0s1, etc):

Edited September 16, 2021 by 5T33Z0

[PlutoDelic]

 

@ic005k really appreciate your tool, having different OC plist's and two different OCAT versions side by side is wonderful for migrating, especially if one prefers to manually switch things over for paranoid reasons :).

 

A few changed are very much need if possible. Adding entries on the fly, currently it requires pressing Enter to save a field, but certain conditions would greatly be appreciated, like save entries when pressing tab or just moving out with the cursor, or paste entries without double-clicking the fields. Copy and pasting multiple fields too. 

[ic005k]

1 hour ago, 5T33Z0 said:

Is there a way to switch OCAT into a "nightly" mode, so it doesn't update the structure of the config when editing/saving? This would be really useful when working with nightly builds of the next OpenCore version which might have features that are not implemented into the app yet.

OCAT has nothing to do with the version of OC, it only has to do with whether the structure of the OC configuration file has changed, for example the current OCAT can directly edit the OC 0.7.4 configuration file.
When you open an OC0.7.4 profile, if the "OC Verify" icon on the toolbar does not show a warning, the current OCAT does not need to be upgraded and it will continue to be able to edit OC0.7.4, otherwise I will upgrade the OCAT to fit the new OC0.7.4 profile structure.

[ic005k]

1 hour ago, 5T33Z0 said:

Dragging and Dropping entries by mouse in Text lists would be nice (ACPI, Device Properties  and Kernel Section)

This can be considered, but is used very infrequently. Because currently OC only kext has an order requirement (e.g. Lilu must be placed in the first position), everywhere else there is no order requirement and can be freely arranged without sorting.

[ic005k]

1 hour ago, 5T33Z0 said:

Inclusion of a Kext Updater

This feature was actually considered when OCAT was first designed. But there are too many such apps, such as Kext Updater and so on. So for the time being, we should not consider adding this feature.
And upgrading kext is not a must when upgrading OC, for example, my kext has not been upgraded for a long time, because it is very stable and there is no need to upgrade it often.

1 hour ago, 5T33Z0 said:

inclusion of a HEX converter.

This gadget can be considered, very practical.

[ic005k]

2 hours ago, 5T33Z0 said:

It would be nice if it also showed the actual name of the drive/container and not just the volume identifier (disk0s1, etc):

The actual name of the drive is already shown, but you are using "EFI" as the volume label name, please change the volume label name, such as "EFI_OC", etc., you will find that it will change immediately.

[ic005k]

58 minutes ago, PlutoDelic said:

Adding entries on the fly, currently it requires pressing Enter to save a field, but certain conditions would greatly be appreciated, like save entries when pressing tab or just moving out with the cursor, or paste entries without double-clicking the fields. Copy and pasting multiple fields too. 

I will take a closer look at what you have said.
If you want to exchange data between two config.plist, "copy or paste line" is a very good choice, it supports single or multiple selection.

[ic005k]

@5T33Z0 @PlutoDelicThank you for your suggestions, and please feel free to provide more suggestions or any questions in the process of using OCAT, and please believe that OCAT will get better and better.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

1 hour ago, ic005k said:

This can be considered, but is used very infrequently. Because currently OC only kext has an order requirement (e.g. Lilu must be placed in the first position), everywhere else there is no order requirement and can be freely arranged without sorting.

 

As far as I am aware, there is a minimal requirement for kext hierarchy: Lilu, VirtualSMC and Whatevergreen, then anything else. Because Whatevergreen also provides functionality to other kexts. But I might be mistaken

 

Since this is the OpenCore Update thread, it's probably wise to create a separate "OCAT Feedback and Suggestions" thread future discussions.

[ic005k]

7 minutes ago, 5T33Z0 said:

As far as I am aware, there is a minimal requirement for kext hierarchy

Yes, you can open OCAT, select all the kext files in your kext directory and drag them into Kernel->Add, you will see that there will be a basic sorting of the files.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

1 hour ago, ic005k said:

The actual name of the drive is already shown, but you are using "EFI" as the volume label name, please change the volume label name, such as "EFI_OC", etc., you will find that it will change immediately.

 

I meant the name of the Parent drive. Similar to this:

 

 

1 minute ago, ic005k said:

Yes, you can open OCAT, select all the kext files in your kext directory and drag them into Kernel->Add, you will see that there will be a basic sorting of the files.

 

I know that. But I'd like to grab entries to move them around instead of using the up and down arrows.

[ic005k]

11 minutes ago, 5T33Z0 said:

it's probably wise to create a separate "OCAT Feedback and Suggestions" thread future discussions.

The discussion forum can be found here.
https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/344752-open-source-cross-platform-opencore-auxiliary-tools/