Have Apple announced whether the "Shellshock" bash update will be applied automatically via the App Store patching mechanism?
Will this update (eventually) be applied automatically via the App
  Store, or do I have to apply it manually?


As I explain in my answer on the question you link to, Apple has released patches you can download &amp; run yourself. You do not have too compile from source or be deeply technically capable to run them.  Just download the one appropriate for your machine, run the installer &amp; that’s it:


OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mavericks
OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mountain Lion
OS X bash Update 1.0 - OS X Lion


And while not directly available via the software update system provided in the App Store, running this patch is one of the simplest Mac OS X patches I have ever run. It takes about a minute of your time, an admin password &amp; there is no need to reboot.

UPDATE: Look, I just saw a pig fly!


  Note: Security Update 2014-005 includes the security content of OS X
  bash Update 1.0