Allow users to update certain applications I am the admin for my company's Mac users. Apps that I initially installed, such as Adobe apps, MS Office, Firefox, etc., all require an admin password to install updates.  In order to avoid the snide comments from users about their lack of admin rights I'm looking for a way to allow users to update certain apps without requiring an admin password.

Is there a way to do this without giving the user full admin rights?  Giving admin rights to the actual application might be one way, but some apps install components in other restricted locations.
We do this by using a management framework that basically has a sudo functionality that's controlled and logged centrally. If you don't want to create your own management framework, look for something like JAMF Software's Casper suite or an open-source framework like munki to manage patches and application installs. I don't know if munki handles the admin/standard user issue, but it's a place to start if you have no budget but can spend time learning if a tool might help you.


http://www.jamfsoftware.com/products/casper-suite/macosx/patch-management/


The Casper self-service portal idea allows normal users to pick from items that you have allowed self-updating and self-patching without needing any user on the receiving end of the patch/update to be an admin user.