OS X apps can't run because they are set to "always run"

[SimonLarsen]

Hi guys. I just got an email from somebody who were unable to run our games on OS X:

I have downloaded these games on a mac and they are set to "always run," but I am not the admin to my computer and the admin controls do not allow me to run this with the "always run" feature incorporated in the file.

Does anybody have any idea what they are talking about?

Thanks in advance!

[slime]

The default setting for OS X user accounts is to prevent downloaded apps from running when double-clicked if the app wasn't code-signed by the developer or wasn't downloaded from the Mac App Store. If that happens you can right-click the app and click Open, and this dialog will pop up:


but if a non-administrator account clicks Open in that dialog, they get presented with another dialog where they need to enter an administrator's name and password:


Apparently there's a couple workarounds for that, but they're a little hacky (I guess you could send them to that person):
1: http://superuser.com/a/734593 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4TrFaYVlB0
2: http://stackoverflow.com/a/22466562


LÖVE isn't code-signed by default in OS X (although you can do it yourself when you package up your game as a Mac app - but you'll need to be in the $100/year Mac Developer program.)

Aside from the fact that I'm not being in that program myself, if I made LÖVE code-signed by default it would mean anyone that created any sort of Mac malware that used LÖVE which got identified and banned by Apple would retroactively prevent all copies of LÖVE from running in OS X.

[SimonLarsen]

The default setting for OS X user accounts is to prevent downloaded apps from running when double-clicked if the app wasn't code-signed by the developer or wasn't downloaded from the Mac App Store. If that happens you can right-click the app and click Open, and this dialog will pop up [...]

That's nice to know. I don't have access to a Mac myself so you're kinda working in the blind with these things.

LÖVE isn't code-signed by default in OS X (although you can do it yourself when you package up your game as a Mac app - but you'll need to be in the $100/year Mac Developer program.)

Aside from the fact that I'm not being in that program myself, if I made LÖVE code-signed by default it would mean anyone that created any sort of Mac malware that used LÖVE which got identified and banned by Apple would retroactively prevent all copies of LÖVE from running in OS X.

Yeah, it makes sense that it isn't signed. Guess we'll have to cough up the $100 if we ever want to make a commercial game.

Thank you for the help.

[slime]

Guess we'll have to cough up the $100 if we ever want to make a commercial game.

FWIW a ton of (non-LÖVE) commercial indie games aren't code-signed in OS X. Not code signing isn't ideal but it's not completely unexpected either.