If you’ve installed the new Creator Studio versions of Keynote, Numbers and Pages you’ll have noticed those apps have the same name as the iWork ones, and can sit side-by-side with them. What trickery was used to do this?
Info.plist
They now get signed, an Info.plist is embedded, they’re notarized by Apple, use the hardened runtime, maybe the App Sandbox, and request entitlements. So how do you check their version?
Where to see them, how they’re constructed, Apple’s rules, how they are created, and how even Apple doesn’t use them according to its own rules.
Some apps nap, others enter the realm of the undead: they’ve gone, but are being kept in suspended animation. And Rosetta can keep them that way for a long time.
Discovering what has been updated in a macOS update isn’t easy. In the case of command tools, it’s just impossible.
How apps can opt to set the quarantine flag on files they create, and how macOS can override that to protect you.
Five different classes of metadata, from file system attributes to embedded Info.plist files, explained and explored.
Do you want to see exactly what protected resources an app can try to access? Or check that your own app is correctly configured?
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.
Adding support for Mojave’s new privacy system is mandatory for apps which need to access protected data. How easy is that?
The Eclectic Light Company 