Mac OS X Server 10.4 or later: Removing old updates from Software Update Server

To remove old software updates from your Software Update Server, follow the steps below.

1. On the local Software Update server, open a Terminal window and type the following command:
   

   grep swupd /etc/swupd/com.apple.server.swupdate.plist > ~/Desktop/update_list.txt

2. Look on your desktop, and you'll see that the last command created the file "update_list.txt," which is a complete list of all the software updates stored on your server. Because the list is excerpted from a preference file, each individual entry will look something like this:
   

   <string>/usr/share/swupd/html/061-2036/.../SecUpd2005-007Ri.tar</string>
   

   This entry is for Security Update 2005-007, as you can see at the end of the string. The rest of the string is the update's full pathname on your server. Each update resides in its own folder, which is 061-2036 in this example.
3. To remove a given update from the server, simply delete the similarly-named folder for the targeted update. Take a look at the entry for the Safari 2.0.1 Update:
   

   <string>/usr/share/swupd/html/061-2048/.../SafariUpdate-2.0.1.tar</string>

   To remove the Safari 2.0.1 Update from the server, you would type this command in Terminal, entering your administrator password when prompted:
   

   sudo rm -rf /usr/share/swupd/html/061-2048/

By following this example, you can delete any software update in the list. When you're finished deleting files, you should drag update_list.txt to the Trash to ensure that you work from a fresh list next time.