• Mac Os X Developer Preview

OS X command line tools for developers – The ultimate tool to manage your Mac. Centrify cost. It provides a huge set of command line commands that automatize the usage of your OS X system. guarinogabriel/Mac-CLI.

macOS Big Sur takes the most advanced operating system in the world to a whole new level of power and beauty, making your apps look better than ever on an all-new interface. New widget features and the new widget gallery help you deliver more value to your users. Adding intelligence to your apps with machine learning is even simpler and more extensive with new tools, models, training capabilities, and APIs. You can create more powerful Mac versions of your iPad apps with Mac Catalyst. And you can now easily bring your extensions to Safari — and to the App Store.

All-new Interface

macOS Big Sur brings a new design that’s been finely tuned for the powerful features that make a Mac a Mac. Core features, such as the menu bar and Dock, take advantage of the large Mac display, with translucent backings and spacious pull-down menus. The new Control Center, designed just for Mac, provides quick access to controls while keeping the menu bar clutter-free. Notification Center puts recent notifications and powerful new widgets together in a single view for at-a-glance information as you work. And a streamlined new design for apps features full-height sidebars and integrated toolbar buttons.

Widgets

Easily build widgets using the WidgetKit framework and the new widget API for SwiftUI. Widgets now come in multiple sizes, and users can visit the new widget gallery to search, preview sizes, and add them to Notification Center to access important details at a glance.

Safari Extensions

With support for the popular WebExtension API, it’s even easier to bring powerful extensions to Safari. Xcode 12 even includes a porting tool to streamline the process.

The new Extensions category on the Mac App Store showcases Safari extensions, with editorial spotlights and top charts to help users discover and download great extensions from the developer community.

Machine Learning

With macOS Big Sur, creating apps that leverage the power of machine learning is even easier and more extensive with additional tools in Core ML for model deployment, new models and training capabilities in Create ML, more APIs for vision and natural language, and improved resources for training on Mac and converting models to Core ML format.

Mac Catalyst

Create even more powerful Mac versions of your iPad apps. Apps built with Mac Catalyst now take on the new look of macOS Big Sur and help you better define the look and behavior of your apps. You can choose to turn off automatic scaling of iPad controls and layout, allowing you to precisely place every pixel on the screen. Provide full control of your app using just the keyboard, take advantage of the updated Photos picker, access more iOS frameworks, and more.

User privacy on the App Store.

Later this year, the Mac App Store will help users understand apps’ privacy practices. You’ll need to enter your privacy practice details into App Store Connect for display on your product page.

Universal App Quick Start Program

Get your apps ready for Apple Silicon Macs. Create next-generation Universal apps that take full advantage of the capabilities the new architecture has to offer. Get all the tools, resources, support, and even access to prototype hardware you’ll need. You can also watch a collection of videos from WWDC20 to help you get started.

Tools and resources

Use Xcode 12 beta and these resources to build apps for macOS Big Sur.

Gatekeeper is a security feature of the macOSoperating system by Apple.^[1][2] It enforces code signing and verifies downloaded applications before allowing them to run, thereby reducing the likelihood of inadvertently executing malware. Gatekeeper builds upon File Quarantine, which was introduced in Mac OS X Leopard and expanded in Mac OS X Snow Leopard.^[3][4] The feature originated in version 10.7.3 of Mac OS X Lion as the command-line utilityspctl.^[5][6] A graphical user interface was added in OS X Mountain Lion and later also in version 10.7.5 of Lion.^[7]

Functions[edit]

Configuration[edit]

In the security & privacy panel of System Preferences, the user has three options:

Mac Os X Developer Preview

Mac App Store

Allows only applications downloaded from the Mac App Store to be launched.

Mac App Store and identified developers

Allows applications downloaded from the Mac App Store and applications signed by certified Apple developers to be launched. This is the default setting since Mountain Lion.

Anywhere

Allows all applications to be launched. This effectively turns Gatekeeper off. This is the default setting in Lion. Since macOS Sierra, this option is hidden by default.^[8][9]

The command-line utility spctl provides granular controls, such as custom rules and individual or blanket permissions, as well as an option to turn Gatekeeper off.^[6]

Quarantine[edit]

Upon download of an application, a particular extended file attribute ('quarantine flag') can be added to the downloaded file.^[10] This attribute is added by the application that downloads the file, such as a web browser or email client, but is not usually added by common BitTorrent client software, such as Transmission, and application developers will need to implement this feature into their applications and is not implemented by the system. The system can also force this behavior upon individual applications using a signature-based system named Xprotect.^[11]

Execution[edit]

When the user attempts to open an application with such an attribute, the system will postpone the execution and verify whether it is:

• blacklisted,
• code-signed by Apple or a certified developer,
• the code-signed contents still match the signature.

Since Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the system keeps two blacklists to identify known malware or insecure software. The blacklists are updated periodically. If the application is blacklisted, then File Quarantine will refuse to open it and recommend to the user to move it to trash.^[11][12]

Gatekeeper will refuse to open the application if the code-signing requirements are not met. Apple can revoke the developer's certificate with which the application was signed and prevent further distribution.^[1][3]

Once an application has passed File Quarantine or Gatekeeper, it will be allowed to run normally and will not be verified again.^[1][3]

Override[edit]

To override Gatekeeper, the user (acting as an administrator) either has to switch to a more lenient policy from the security & privacy panel of System Preferences or authorize a manual override for a particular application, either by opening the application from the context menu or by adding it with spctl.^[1]

Path randomization[edit]

Developers can sign disk images that can be verified as a unit by the system. In macOS Sierra, this allows developers to guarantee the integrity of all bundled files and prevent attackers from infecting and subsequently redistributing them. In addition, 'path randomization' executes application bundles from a random, hidden path and prevents them from accessing external files relative to their location. This feature is turned off if the application bundle originated from a signed installer package or disk image or if the user manually moved the application without any other files to another directory.^[8]

Implications[edit]

The effectiveness and rationale of Gatekeeper in combating malware have been acknowledged,^[3] but been met with reservations. Security researcher Chris Miller noted that Gatekeeper will verify the developer certificate and consult the known-malware list only when the application is first opened. Malware that already passed Gatekeeper will not be stopped.^[13] In addition, Gatekeeper will only verify applications that have the quarantine flag. As this flag is added by other applications and not by the system, any neglect or failure to do so does not trigger Gatekeeper. According to security blogger Thomas Reed, BitTorrent clients are frequent offenders of this. The flag is also not added if the application came from a different source, like network shares and USB flash drives.^[10][13] Questions have also been raised about the registration process to acquire a developer certificate and the prospect of certificate theft.^[14]

In September 2015, security researcher Patrick Wardle wrote about another shortcoming that concerns applications that are distributed with external files, such as libraries or even HTML files that can contain JavaScript.^[8] An attacker can manipulate those files and through them exploit a vulnerability in the signed application. The application and its external files can then be redistributed, while leaving the original signature of the application bundle itself intact. As Gatekeeper does not verify such individual files, the security can be compromised.^[15] With path randomization and signed disk images, Apple provided mechanisms to mitigate this issue in macOS Sierra.^[8]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcd'OS X: About Gatekeeper'. Apple. February 13, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
2. ^Siegler, MG (February 16, 2012). 'Surprise! OS X Mountain Lion Roars Into Existence (For Developers Today, Everyone This Summer)'. TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
3. ^ ^abcdSiracusa, John (July 25, 2012). 'OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: the Ars Technica review'. Ars Technica. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
4. ^Reed, Thomas (April 25, 2014). 'Mac Malware Guide : How does Mac OS X protect me?'. The Safe Mac. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
5. ^Ullrich, Johannes (February 22, 2012). 'How to test OS X Mountain Lion's Gatekeeper in Lion'. Internet Storm Center. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
6. ^ ^ab'spctl(8)'. Mac Developer Library. Apple. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
7. ^'About the OS X Lion v10.7.5 Update'. Apple. February 13, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
8. ^ ^abcd'What's New in Security'. Apple Developer (Video). June 15, 2016. At 21:45. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
9. ^Cunningham, Andrew (June 15, 2016). 'Some nerdy changes in macOS and iOS 10: RAW shooting, a harsher Gatekeeper, more'. Ars Technica UK. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
10. ^ ^abReed, Thomas (October 6, 2015). 'Bypassing Apple's Gatekeeper'. Malwarebytes Labs. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
11. ^ ^abMoren, Dan (August 26, 2009). 'Inside Snow Leopard's hidden malware protection'. Macworld. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
12. ^'About the 'Are you sure you want to open it?' alert (File Quarantine / Known Malware Detection) in OS X'. Apple Support. March 22, 2016. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
13. ^ ^abForesman, Chris (February 17, 2012). 'Mac developers: Gatekeeper is a concern, but still gives power users control'. Ars Technica. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
14. ^Chatterjee, Surojit (February 21, 2012). 'OS X Mountain Lion Gatekeeper: Can it Really Keep Malware Out?'. International Business Times. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
15. ^Goodin, Dan. 'Drop-dead simple exploit completely bypasses Mac's malware Gatekeeper'. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.