While there is no technical control that can be used on unmanaged hosts to restrict users from upgrading, we have created a sample host script that can be run automatically at Player launch to help educate users on the implications to their Moka5 experience of upgrading to Yosemite ahead of Moka5 support for it.

The host script displays a warning message instructing users not to upgrade to Yosemite. This message displays every time the Moka5 Player launches, until the user clicks a checkbox acknowledging that they have read the message. Once they click the checkbox, the message will no longer be displayed and the action will be reported to the server so that admins can track in the Console which users have clicked the checkbox.

Click this link to download the host script.

To implement this host script, upload the .zipped host script bundle to your Management Server and use Player Policies to target it to applicable user groups. The Management Server delivers the host script bundle to the targeted users as part of the Moka5 Player update process. Once the users apply the update, the host script will run automatically on Player launch. Note that if you have already deployed a Mac host script bundle, you will want to modify the existing bundle to include this new host script, rather than replace the existing bundle.

For more information on using host scripts, read our Knowledge Base article on the topic.

You can customize the text that displays in the host script by making changes to warning.txt. Making changes to elements of the host script allow you to display different messages.

You can customize the window title, the header, the body text, and the acknowledgement checkbox text.

To change the title or header text, open tasks.xml in a text editor. Find the following line:

Modify the text highlighted in yellow above to change the title and header. The title can contain up to 20 characters, and the header can contain up to 200 characters.

To change the body text, open warning.txt in a text editor. Make text changes up to 2MB in size, and save the file.

Set ack to 0, rather than 1, to disable the acknowledgement checkbox. The checkbox text can contain up to 40 characters.

Users who check the box will not see the warning message again. Checking the box sends a notification to the Moka5 Server that the warning has been read and acknowledged. Admins can then track in the Console which users have clicked the checkbox.

For more information on how to use information sent by host scripts to the Moka5 Server, read this section of the Knowledge Base article on host scripts.

If you're already using host scripts, you can add the warning message by adding the downloaded Warning Dialog.app directory to your host script bundle, and modify your existing tasks.xml. The new tasks.xml should look like this:

Upload this new host script bundle to your Management Server to replace the warning host script bundle. Target the new host script bundle to the same groups, then deploy the Player update. The new host script will display when the updated Player launches. Note that if you have other host scripts in your Mac host script bundle that you would like to continue to run, you will want to modify the existing bundle to include this new host script, rather than replace the existing bundle completely.

Alternatively, use the customization process outlined above to modify the existing warning host script with new text to indicate that it is safe to upgrade to Yosemite.

If you choose to modify the deployed warning host script rather than replace it, note that users who have clicked the acknowledgement checkbox do not see the host script message. To make sure that users who have clicked the checkbox are notified that it is now okay to upgrade to Yosemite, you must clear the checkbox so the host script message will display again.

To clear the checkbox, modify the task name_id tag in tasks.xml. This clears the checkbox and forces the message to display on Player launch. For example:

Changing <task name_id="Warning_Mac_v3" version="1">

To <task name_id="Warning_Mac_v4" version="1">

Ensures that the message displays to users on Player launch.