Calibre wants to access Accessibility features on Mac?

rosalita · 08-17-2020, 08:55 PM

I've been using Calibre (currently 4.22.0) on my iMac (running Catalina 10.15.6) since about May or so, and it's worked just fine. Today when I opened it up to send some books to my Kobo e-reader, a Mac dialog box popped up saying that Calibre wanted access to the Accessibility features and asked me to approve or deny. Because there wasn't any useful information in the dialog to tell me exactly what was needed, I chose to Deny.

I certainly don't have any concerns that Calibre is trying to do something nefarious, but I'm wondering if someone here knows what exactly it is requesting access to do, and what the ramifications are of either approving or denying it. The dialog box referred to it as allowing the application to "control my computer" which probably sounds more ominous than it actually is.

Any insights would be appreciated.

kovidgoyal · 08-17-2020, 11:22 PM

calibre doesnt use accessibility features. Apple decided to stupidly prevent programs from accessing attached USB devices without a meaningless popup, that is probably what you got. https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...n-denied-error (see the second point)

The way things are going with macOS, its quite likely I will have to drop support for it, it's becoming not worth the support headache anymore.

rosalita · 08-18-2020, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre doesnt use accessibility features. Apple decided to stupidly prevent programs from accessing attached USB devices without a meaningless popup, that is probably what you got. https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...n-denied-error (see the second point)

The way things are going with macOS, its quite likely I will have to drop support for it, it's becoming not worth the support headache anymore.

Thanks for the explanation, Kovid. I understand your frustration, but I sincerely hope you don't drop support for macOS, as it's the only computer I have.

jmmcg9 · 08-27-2020, 10:57 PM

I second that! Kovid you are doing a great job! Please continue mac support!
Joe

kovidgoyal · 08-27-2020, 11:07 PM

Well, am not dropping it yet. Am just really fed up with Apple, but I dont want my users to suffer for Apple's idiocies.

08-17-2020, 08:55 PM	#1
rosalita Connoisseur Posts: 66 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2014 Location: Iowa Device: Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Forma, Kindle Paperwhite 3	Calibre wants to access Accessibility features on Mac? I've been using Calibre (currently 4.22.0) on my iMac (running Catalina 10.15.6) since about May or so, and it's worked just fine. Today when I opened it up to send some books to my Kobo e-reader, a Mac dialog box popped up saying that Calibre wanted access to the Accessibility features and asked me to approve or deny. Because there wasn't any useful information in the dialog to tell me exactly what was needed, I chose to Deny. I certainly don't have any concerns that Calibre is trying to do something nefarious, but I'm wondering if someone here knows what exactly it is requesting access to do, and what the ramifications are of either approving or denying it. The dialog box referred to it as allowing the application to "control my computer" which probably sounds more ominous than it actually is. Any insights would be appreciated.

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08-17-2020, 11:22 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,347 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre doesnt use accessibility features. Apple decided to stupidly prevent programs from accessing attached USB devices without a meaningless popup, that is probably what you got. https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...n-denied-error (see the second point) The way things are going with macOS, its quite likely I will have to drop support for it, it's becoming not worth the support headache anymore.

08-27-2020, 10:57 PM	#4
jmmcg9 Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 6420516 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Austin, TX Device: Oasis 2, iPad Pro (12.9”), iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPad Mini 5, Forma	I second that! Kovid you are doing a great job! Please continue mac support! Joe

08-27-2020, 11:07 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,347 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Well, am not dropping it yet. Am just really fed up with Apple, but I dont want my users to suffer for Apple's idiocies.

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