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0 pointsheavyset_go5y ago0 comments

Apple has programmed macOS to make it appear to users as if un-Notarized apps either don't work or are malicious.

This is bad for users that download apps to solve problems, or to get work done, because then they can't those apps without having an expert tell them what the magic ritual to run un-Notarized apps is. If they don't have an expert around to show them how to perform the magic ritual, then they just think the apps are broken.

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8 comments · 3 top-level

otterley5y ago· 3 in thread

Most mainstream apps are notarized already.

saagarjha5y ago

I think you're answering the wrong question?

otterley5y ago

Another commenter added more color, but what I was trying to say is that the scenario the parent poster described isn't a likely one for most Mac users.

heavyset_goOP5y ago

As a maintainer of a few open source Mac apps that are un-Notarized, this doesn't help users who download the apps to solve their problems but can't use them because of the roadblocks baked into macOS.

judge20205y ago· 1 in thread

I don't think anyone trying to 'solve problems' or 'get work done' has encountered a notarization issue since the types of software they use is always notarized (since they still are only running software distributed by million dollar corporations).

heavyset_goOP5y ago

I maintain a few open source Mac apps that I'm not paying to Notarize.

Users frequently comment that the apps are now "broken" because they don't understand the changes Apple made to macOS to treat un-Notarized apps as if they're radioactive.

whiddershins5y ago· 1 in thread

I dunno.

If you can’t confidently change a system preference back and forth, maybe you are very vulnerable to being hacked in general? So maybe it’s ok for Apple’s defaults, at least, to be restrictive?

I just want a preference that allows me to turn all of this off.

fsflover5y ago

Extensively discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24217116.

Tl;dr: no.

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