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Comment by LeoPanthera | Hacker News Reader

This behavior frustrates me, as a seasoned (=old) Mac user, but I am simultaneously quite grateful for it existing on my parents Macs.

It would be nice if there was a Sys Prefs option to add a "run anyway" button to the initial prompt. It wouldn't even need to be on by default. Just give me the option.

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If you want your computer back, use this to disable the protections. In the system preferences, a new option is enabled under the security section, "Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere"

> sudo spctl --master-disable

> sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security GKAutoRearm -bool false

> :> ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2

> sudo chflags simmutable ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2

You may need to disable system integrity protection to do this

> csrutil disable

If you know what you're doing, like probably everyone here, you don't need any of this junk. I didn't need it in 1998, and I don't need it now either.

But then you’ll have websites that walk you through changing the setting. At least this way you have to make a decision every time, even if it costs you a few clicks each time you do it.

They can do the same for the right-click technique. Omitting a setting does not change the user's understanding of the decision, it just makes this completely undiscoverable and tedious for users who know what they're doing.

A system setting risks allowing you to make more mistakes.

Imagine I install some app from a trusted third party and am walked through the steps to toggle the system setting to allow installs. Then a year later when I am installing some untrustworthy tool, I am no longer warned (at least not to the same severity) that this tool is unsigned. It leaves me more likely to install that software and end up putting myself at risk in the future.

Take for example the Android settings for installing third party apps. I can enable it on a per-app basis, but that permission persists for the lifetime of my device. If I allow Chrome to install apps for me, that enables apps from ANY site from now until the EOL of my device, to more easily make their way onto my phone.

If I am asked every time (or even periodically) I am given a moment to consider if I know what I am doing.

But the setting doesn't have to get rid of a warning, we're discussing requiring the right-click to even show the option of running the software.

Gatekeeper right now won't even allow you to run an application unless you somehow know and remember to right-click. This is sadistic. Many well-informed users won't even know about it and even more will forget to right-click on the first try. This is far from "forcing the user to make a choice about each binary". It's clear Apple doesn't want users to even be aware that there is a choice.

Well... there happens to be a way to disable that part of gatekeeper functionality if you want to. It’s just not a checkbox in settings, if I recall correctly it’s a terminal command that requires sudo. https://www.imore.com/how-open-apps-anywhere-macos-catalina-... But really, really only do this if you know what you’re doing. You can leave gatekeeper running but in a mode where it is much less restrictive. It may still prompt you if you just downloaded an app from Safari, that sort of thing.

It would be a command-line option. They used to have a system preference to disable signing, but a lot of software (including Minecraft, for a while) walked users through disabling gatekeeper security for the whole system rather than sign their individual software or try and explain right-clicking.

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