From my viewpoint, it appears security and support concerns are causing MacOS installers to evolve even between updates. For example I have taken to keeping a bootable thumb drive installer of the current release version as a
belt and suspenders backup. The procedure involves downloading the release version from the App Store then running the createinstallmedia app that is included in the Install Mac OS package to create the bootable thumb drive. Nothing in the process is difficult.
This all worked as advertised with MacOS 11.0, 11.1, 11.2, and 11.2.1. Then came MacOS 11.3. With the previous versions the download was direct from the App Store but with 11.3 when I click on
Get instead of the download beginning directly from the App Store System Preferences > Software Update is launched to handle the download and you need to be watchful to stop the installer from running once the download is accomplished. Then when I attempt launching
createinstallmedia in Terminal it announces
createinstallmedia is not found. If I show the package contents of the installer package createinstallmedia is there right where it should be. I am still working on why the command is not found even though the specified path is correct, and the exact same copy and paste has worked for several years. Is the problem in the installer package? the command string? MacOS 11.3? MacOS 11.4 beta 1? between the earpads on my AirPods?
Apple's development is, and always has been, tightly focused on today and tomorrow. So it shouldn't be surprising the support mechanisms must also continue to evolve. It is also obvious Apple is not going back and reworking, retesting, and re-releasing installers for older versions of MacOS especially those that are no longer actively supported. That too is a long held precept from Apple's earliest days. But at this juncture evolutionary changes seem to be piling up like cars on the freeway intersection at rush hour. To continue the freeway analogy hopefully the current jam will smooth out as things go along.
