Scrivener and the Mac App Store
Keith Blount on a one-character bug and the difficulty of deploying the fix to the Mac App Store:
Well, the trouble is that, as a developer, I have no way of testing the installation of the Mac App Store version across platforms. I can test the integrity of the installer package that I send to Apple (which I did), but not the full installation procedure. (If you are a developer and know this to be incorrect, please let me know. I can test the installer package on the 10.8 machine I create it with, but not on my 10.6 machine it seems.) And unfortunately, it seems that the Apple review process doesn’t test the installation procedure thoroughly, either, since this problem was not picked up by the App Review process. Thus Scrivener 2.4 went live with the problem.
[…]
But older versions don’t only become inaccessible to the user – they become inaccessible to the developer, too. Once I became aware of the issue and uploaded the 2.4.1 fix, I then looked for a way to revert the on-sale version to 2.3.1 until 2.4.1 got through review, so that this issue could be eradicated in the meantime. However, it seems there is no way of doing this, and that the only way forward is to wait for Apple to approve the 2.4.1 update.
Since the version in the store has a bug, and Apple won’t accept the fix, he’s temporarily removed the app from the store:
2.4 was released on the App Store last Thursday night, after a week in the review queue. On Friday morning, as soon as I found out about the bug in 10.6′s receipt validation code, I submitted a bug fix, Scrivener 2.4.1, to Apple, and I asked for an expedited review.
[…]
It is nearly a week now since 2.4 became available, and we still do not know when 2.4.1 will pass review and be made available on the store. 2.4.1 was rejected on Monday night for a reason that didn’t make sense (the reviewer said it wasn’t sandboxed when it was). We followed this up and resubmitted, but were then told that the reviewers needed more time. Yesterday, I was informed that they want us to make some changes to Scrivener 2.4.1 before it can pass review. I was also informed that Scrivener 2.4, 2.3.1 and 2.3 should really have not passed review either, given the things they want us to change. (Please note that the things we have been asked to change are not bugs, but features Apple interpret as not meeting their App Store review requirements.)
[…]
Incidentally, because of some of the changes we are being required to make, we cannot guarantee that Scrivener on the Mac App Store will have as good support for .docx, .doc and .odt formats in 2.4.1 and future releases. This does not affect the version on our site.
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[...] the Mac App Store doesn’t let you go back to a previous version, even if the new version has a bug, I’ve been saving each app update that I download. I have a DropDMG configuration called [...]
I'm not sure to understand which installation scenario can not be tested on his side.
1. It's possible to create test accounts in ITunes connect.
2. It's possible to install a MAS installation with the command line installer:
installer -store
The -store option is not listed in the SYNOPSIS of the man page, of course.
