OTA Catalog Parser

This program lets you view an OTA update catalog for audioOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS in a more pleasant format. It can also output the information in a format suitable for entry on The iPhone Wiki.

NOTE: Dates are extracted from the file URL, which may not be the actual release date.

Program Requirements

The Mac version requires macOS v10.9 (Mavericks) or newer. It is built with Xamarin.Mac, so no other software is required.

The Windows version requires .NET Framework 4.6.1 or newer. (Link to .NET Framework 4.7.1 for Windows 7 and newer.)

The command-line version is cross-platform and requires either Mono or .NET Framework 4.6.1 or newer (link to .NET Framework 4.7.1 for Windows 7 and newer) to be installed.

Command-Line Arguments (CLI version only)

If no arguments are specified, the program will return the following information about the arguments that it uses.

Required Arguments

• -d <device> specifies what device you're looking for. This argument is looking for a value like "iPad2,3" or "iPod7,1." (If you do not know what value to use, you may refer to the identifiers listed on The iPhone Wiki.)
• -f <file> specifies the location of the OTA update catalog. This may be either an XML file saved on your computer, or a mesu.apple.com URL.
• -m <model> specifies what device you're looking for. This argument is looking for a value like "N71AP" or "N66mAP." (If you do not know what value to use, you may refer to the internal names listed on The iPhone Wiki.) This argument is required only if you are looking for OTA updates for the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, or iPhone SE. It is ignored for all other devices.

Optional Arguments

• -b specifies that you would like to see beta releases. By default, this program does not display beta releases.
• -max <OS version> specifies the highest version of iOS you're looking for. This argument is looking for a value like "4.3" or "8.0.1."
• -min <OS version> (renamed from -o as of version 0.3) specifies the lowest version of iOS you're looking for. This argument is looking for a value like "4.3" or "8.0.1."
• -t adds the table headers, if -w is specified.
• -w allows you to see the results formatted more appropriately for The iPhone Wiki. Manual editing may still be required (e.g. for "marketing version"), but this will make the burden more bearable.

Source Code Information

When opening the solution in Visual Studio, one project will be incompatible, depending on your platform.

• Visual Studio for Windows may not open Octothorpe.Mac because it is a Xamarin.Mac project.
• Xamarin Studio/Visual Studio for Mac will not open Octothorpe.WPF because WPF is exclusive to Windows.

Broken Output

Apple may make changes to their property lists that break this program. Apple's ability to do so is limited since they need to ensure compatibility with older firmwares, but nevertheless remains a possibility.

override.json

Broken output most commonly happens with watchOS updates, especially with beta updates. The parser needs to know what is and isn't a beta in order to format it correctly, but Apple hasn't made that easy in the past.

This program utilizes a JSON file, named "override.json," to override the information that Apple provides. Its format is simple: the name of each field is a build number, which contains a dictionary of the following key/value pairs:

• "Product" (the operating system's name, e.g. "iOS")
• "Version" (the displayed version, e.g. "11.1.2")
• Optional Keys
  • "Beta" (what number beta it is; if it is not a beta, it will be 0)
  • "Suffix" (if something should follow, e.g. "watchOS 3.1 beta 2 Pre-release")
  • "Date" (the release date for the software)
  • "Devices" (if the entry should only be applied to certain devices)

If you encounter an issue, please make sure that "override.json" contains information for newer releases before reporting it. For the Mac version, it can be found at OTA Parser.app/Contents/MonoBundle/override.json.

Licensing Information

This program is distributed under the MIT License.

This program utilizes the plist-cil library.

Please refer to LICENSE.md for more details regarding the licenses for third-party libraries.