EXPERT ADVICE
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Version numbering changes
WHEN APPLE RELEASED
Big Sur in 2020 it took us by surprise, changing macOS version numbering from the chaos of “10.14.6 Supplemental Update 2” to a rational system of three numbers. When your Mac is running 13.3.1 you know it’s the first patch of minor version 3 of major release 13, whereas that version of Mojave was really the third “Supplemental Update” not the second.
Then came the first Rapid Security Response to shatter the peace with its appended letter in parentheses, taking 13.3.1 to 13.3.1 (a). Software expecting to see just numbers and full stops broke immediately, and those wondering how yet another version numbering system works have been left baffled.
Don’t even try to make sense of the build number, with three extra digits and the letter a, to go from 22E261 to 22E772610a.