Of all the changes in macOS 10.15 which we’re likely to hear about at WWDC next week, one of the most certain is the requirement for notarization of all apps distributed over the Internet but outside the App Store. It’s already upon us: as of 7 April, all new and updated kernel extensions are required to be notarized, as are apps from new developers who haven’t previously signed apps.
The recent problems in installing VirtualBox 6.0.8 in macOS 10.14.5 have raised an important question: how can we tell whether a code bundle has been notarized? If you do hit problems when trying to install and run software which should be notarized, how can you know whether it has been correctly notarized in the first place?
For regular apps, this shouldn’t be too difficult. If you’ve just downloaded them and try to open them, you should see the new variant of the ‘Gatekeeper’ dialog. If the app hasn’t picked up a quarantine flag, you can easily add one using my free tool xattred.
Read more at EclecticLight.co