{"id":26782,"date":"2019-10-04T17:01:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T21:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=26782"},"modified":"2025-06-17T15:15:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T19:15:38","slug":"nsdistributednotificationcenter-no-longer-supports-nil-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/04\/nsdistributednotificationcenter-no-longer-supports-nil-names\/","title":{"rendered":"NSDistributedNotificationCenter No Longer Supports nil Names"},"content":{"rendered":"

merlinme<\/a> (via Jeff Johnson<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

I’m not sure if this is a bug or an API change, but we have an app which relies on distributed notifications which didn’t work on Catalina. After debugging I think the problem is that specifying a name: nil<\/code> in addObserver<\/code> fails silently.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple have now replied to my Feedback submission to confirm that the API has changed. Specifying a nil<\/code> name in addObserver<\/code> is now a privileged operation, so for practical purposes all applications currently using a nil<\/code> name will stop receiving notifications when they move to Catalina, and will need to be updated to use a specified name.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Another<\/a> breaking change to an API that’s been around since Mac OS X 10.10, without updating the documentation<\/a> or mentioning the change in a release note:<\/p>\n

notificationName<\/code>\nThe name of the notification for which to register the observer; that is, only notifications with this name are delivered to the observer. When nil<\/code>, the notification center doesn’t use a notification’s name to decide whether to deliver it to the observer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I guess maybe there are privacy reasons to prevent an app from seeing notifications from other apps or the system. However:<\/p>\n