DropDMG 3.6.9
DropDMG 3.6.9 is a maintenance update to my app for creating and working with Mac disk image files. It fixes a conversion bug, works better with macOS security/privacy features, improves the help, and more.
Some interesting issues were:
TCC continues to cause problems. A longstanding issue is that DropDMG’s command-line tool uses AppleScript to communicate with the main app, but if you’re running
dropdmgfrom a shell script (e.g. an Xcode build script), macOS doesn’t know to prompt you to grant Automation access. (There is no way to grant such access manually because the checkbox doesn’t show up in System Settings until after the prompt.) A workaround has been to run an AppleScript from Xcode (or whatever the controlling app is) that does something innocuous like ask DropDMG toget version. That will trigger the Automation access prompt. This no longer seems to work with macOS 15, so we now recommend using thebeepcommand instead.The most common reason that a code signing certificate would not be shown in DropDMG is if your private key is missing from the keychain. I don’t know why these seem to get lost or not migrate properly. Private keys cannot be redownloaded from Apple, so you either need to generate a new one or export it from the keychain on your old Mac.
With SpamSieve, it seems like most of the erroneous Gatekeeper errors saying that the app was damaged (thus necessitating the Download Fixer tool) were triggered by a hardened runtime entitlement (
com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation), which neither app actually needs these days. I removed the entitlement from SpamSieve a few versions ago, and it’s now gone from DropDMG, too, so hopefully these errors will be much less frequent now.I recently learned about the impluse engine open-source project, which can convert old HFS volumes (which macOS no longer supports) to HFS+.
The Mac App Store version of DropDMG is currently stuck in App Review, after being rejected because “Your app updates itself outside of the Mac App Store” (which is not the case).
Previously:
2 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
As I read through this list it triggers all sorts of memories of the upsetting problems I've hit with macOS over the last decade. The part where each version seems to break AppleScript a little more is particularly heart-wrenching. I remember when AppleScript "just worked" and was one of the biggest and most incredible advantages of using macOS, back when almost every app supported it to some degree. The "app is damaged, throw it in the trash" dialog box is another one that really grinds me gears. And why are developer certificates so damn hard to migrate?
I've been so frustrated lately with how buggy Apple's software has become. It's a serious issue. It's almost like working in Windows 95 or Mac OS 8 but without the full system freezes
Also agree with Bri that the withering of AppleScript really sucks
