Cannot update to Tailscale 1.42.0 on macOS 10.13.6 via Mac App Store

[sumocomputers]

What is the issue?

Cannot update to Tailscale 1.42.0 on macOS 10.13.6.

Release Notes say that Tailscale 1.42.0 should be supported on macOS 10.13.6.

Steps to reproduce

Have a Mac with macOS 10.13.6 and attempt to upgrade from an older version of Tailscale like 1.40.0 in the Mac App Store.

Observe that the Mac App Store specifies that Tailscale 1.42.0 requires 10.14.6 or newer, and it will not update. This happens whether you have Tailscale running or not during upgrade attempt.

Are there any recent changes that introduced the issue?

No response

OS

macOS

OS version

10.13.6

Tailscale version

1.40.0

Other software

No response

Bug report

BUG-6f889d89a53355dd220a3a7f70aa0b992f5611d6ea49c3f3b7dbdbccb43a63db-20230608193047Z-ca8120a0d846f6e8

[agottardo]

Hi @sumocomputers, thanks for reporting this issue! We are aware of this. We are currently working on v1.42.1, which will re-introduce support for macOS High Sierra. It will be available on the App Store soon.

That said, keep in mind that v1.42.1 will be our final release compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra and 10.14 Mojave, as announced previously. You might want to update your Mac to keep receiving updates after that.

[sumocomputers]

Appreciate the response. Unfortunately, this particular Mac is a 2011 Mac Mini that still works perfectly, so 10.13.6 is the last version Apple allows.

[eon-pixel]

Hi @sumocomputers, you can use OpenCore Legacy Patcher to update your Mac to a newer version of macOS unofficially. https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher

[DentonGentry]

Tailscale 1.44 was released yesterday. Though we'd said that 1.42 would be the last release for macOS 10.13 and 10.14, that we then made a mistake in the 10.13 support was unfortunate. Therefore we extended the support for one more release:

• Tailscale 1.44 should install on macOS 10.13 and macOS 10.14.
• Tailscale 1.46 will not install on macOS 10.13 and macOS 10.14.

https://tailscale.com/changelog/#2023-06-21-client

[2V3EvG4LMJFdRe]

I understand High Sierra is not supported any more, but just so you know you may have accidentally gone an extra length not to support it. The closest thing to being able to install Tailscale on 10.13 as of today is by tracking down the link for one of the old builds, say https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/Tailscale-1.40.0-macos.zip or https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/Tailscale-1.38.4-macos.zip but all of them have been re-compiled to target 10.15 and above. Short of this is compiling it ourselves, which...

[DentonGentry]

The standalone Mac app at https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/#macos uses a System Extension for its VPN function, a technology added in macOS 10.15.

The App Store version uses a Network Extension, a different macOS technology which was present in macOS 10.13 and 10.14. We supported macOS 10.13 through Tailscale release 1.42.

Importantly:

• Network Extensions only work when signed by the App Store. We do not have the option of offering the download of a Network Extension app outside of the App Store.
• Apple will offer macOS systems which had already installed the Tailscale app to update to 1.42. However, the App Store does not offer to install the last supported app version on a device which did not already have it installed.

[2V3EvG4LMJFdRe]

Ah, I see. It was only ever available through the App Store for 10.14 and below, no luck if you didn't get it from there by now. Seems reasonable enough since it's not supported any longer.