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Custom Finder icons, resources and Mac OS history

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How to give apps, folders and files custom icons, and how that still uses resource forks, just as it did back in 1984.

March 4, 2023 Macs, Technology

From resource forks to quarantine, ResEdit to Gatekeeper

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ResEdit changed what was in the resource fork. With Mac OS X, Apple moved away from forks to extended attributes, now used for quarantine flags and more.

December 27, 2022 Macs, Technology

Finder can’t create an alias inside a package or bundle

The Finder is happy to create aliases to most files and folders, provided they aren’t immediately inside a bundle or package. Then it gets all fussy. But why?

December 3, 2022 Macs, Technology

What has changed in macOS, and why it matters

Users need to know what changes in each update to macOS, as it may fix existing bugs and introduce new ones. Here’s how I work out what has changed, and its limitations.

March 2, 2021 Macs, Technology

Which version is that command tool?

Discovering what has been updated in a macOS update isn’t easy. In the case of command tools, it’s just impossible.

August 15, 2020 Macs, Technology

Versions and other app metadata: what to trust?

Version numbers are simple, aren’t they? So how come so few of Apple’s own apps conform to its own rules? And as for copyright info, forget it, as so many Apple apps seem to.

July 10, 2019 Macs, Technology

How can Mojave let you open an app with signature errors?

The differences between a full Gatekeeper check, an AMFI check for integrity, and a normal app open, and why signature errors can be tolerated.

December 25, 2018 Macs, Technology

App signatures are always checked on launch, but serious errors may be ignored

Whenever an app is opened in 10.14.2, its signature is checked asynchronously, often several times. But in many cases, macOS doesn’t act on any errors returned.

December 24, 2018 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Weed control in the walled garden

Another worthless piece of “security theatre” about bundle signatures. I wouldn’t bother reading it, or downloading the new version of Signet.

December 23, 2018 Macs, Technology

How thoroughly does Gatekeeper check existing apps?

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Is checking bundle signatures a waste of time once they have passed their ‘first run’ check? Does macOS ever do that?

December 22, 2018 Macs, Technology

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