Hosting an internal Apple Software Update service involves having to rely on Mac OS X Server to update you various testing machines if you want to test software against various releases of Leopard and Snow Leopard across hardware. Walt Disney Animation Studios, however, have released Reposado, an open-source project founded upon Python that eliminates the need for OS X Server while alleviating some previous limitations.

The open-source benefit of this project is immediately applicable for small businesses. As TUAW’s Chris Ward points out, running your own update solution for businesses allows administrators to economize on bandwidth by downloading the update once, and distributing it internally. For both developers and IT administrators, Reposado takes this a bit further by leveraging what a company is likely to already have available in equipment. It’s a cost effective solution that’s currently available for download via GitHub.

All you need available is a box running an Apache 2 web server and the ‘curl’ binary tool, and provided you already have an old Mac around (such as a Mac Mini), utilizing these tools is incredibly easy. Replicating Software Update catalogs and updates, Reposado is powerful in that it supports deprecated updates. Apple’s course of action only offers and encourages admins to download the latest software, yet testing environments require that software be compatible across multiple iterations of software. With Reposado, you can branch any update to various machines on your schedule, giving you time to test new software before deploying it.

[Managing OS X via TUAW]