Some apps, like SoftRAID and Little Snitch, rely upon kernel extensions (KEXTs) to be able to work. Although Apple has been discouraging developers from using these extensions, their substitutes such as System Extensions (SEXTs) have only recently been introduced, and it’s by no means clear whether they can offer the same features for developers.
At the same time, macOS Catalina has become increasingly restrictive on third-party kernel extensions, and there have been bugs which have caused problems. This article summarises what you can do when you need to run an app which relies on kernel extensions but falls foul of Catalina.
How to tell if an app relies on kernel extensions
First check its documentation and support pages. Recent and properly supported apps which use kernel extensions should now make this clear, and explain how to install them in Catalina.
If you’re still unsure, you can open the app/installer and look for yourself. If supplied as an installer package, double-clicking that package will open it in the Installer app, where you can view a list of the items it installs. Look for anything named with the .kext extension to be placed inside the app itself, or in an Extensions folder. In an app, select the app and use the Finder’s Show Package Contents command to open it. Look in the Resources folder inside Contents, for items with the .kext extension.
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