[odamizu]

I started this discussion in a Catalina thread on the Apple forum and was asked to take it elsewhere.

Starting with macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple is requiring app notarization by default: "Mac apps, installer packages, and kernel extensions that are signed with Developer ID must also be notarized by Apple in order to run on macOS Catalina."

Meanwhile, this discussion on MacRumors suggests Catalina's Gatekeeper can be overridden via System Prefs > Security or spectl to allow unsigned/unnotarized apps to run.

KevinH weighed in on the new notarization requirement thus:

Originally Posted by KevinH

This is actually an important issue for Sigil. Right now I volunteer my time as a Sigil developer (all donations are disabled on our site). Sigil does not use the Mac App store as we have no interest in it. That said, Apple still charges me over $100 Canadian per year just to be able to digitally sign Sigil. They make no exceptions for open source developers.

According to a nastigram I received from Apple Developer Relations ... I must now rebuild and relink my app to enable their special runtime and then to declare "limits" of what the app can do and what files/folders it can access.

Given Sigil is an ebook editing environment, it needs to access Photos, Images, Audio, Video, xhtml files anyplace, etc. Sigil also embeds an entire Python 3.7.2 interpreter and allows full Plugins, I can not even begin to "narrow down" what a plugin should do nor limit it. So this "notarization" is a complete waste as any user added plugin could access whatever they want in python.

Then I must "submit" it for them to quote "notarize" it. As well as all previous releases of Sigil that I have signed.

So this is no trivial task.

Then to add insult to injury the Apple dev docs to do all of this are only provided for XCode IDE "novice" developers who need gui hand holding. No command line instructions were posted so no automating the build process with scripts can be done. We build Sigil across 3 platforms (Windows, Linux, and Mac) and build automation is crucial.

I asked Apple's Developer Relations (who said if I had questions I should ask them) for simple directions on how to do this without XCode and its nonsense baggage and my only response was that I should ask for help from other developers on their developer's forums.

So right now the chances of Sigil getting anything notarized by Apple for its new walled garden on macOS is about 0. And the day they prevent power users from running whatever apps they want, will be the last day I use a macOS. I will just go back to Linux.

The most silly thing about Apple's security model is that it completely ignores unix level security features. If I have a new app I either run it in a VM or create a non-admin account where there are no other files it can even access outside of what I place in that VM or non-admin account for it to use. So it (or me) can not delete my entire music library!

My2 cents ...

I replied:

Originally Posted by odamizu

Thanks Kevin. Your 2 cents are always worth more like $2million to me.

If Catalina (and future macOS's) will run unsigned apps without notarization, would you be willing to continue developing Sigil without signing it?

Thank you