[Openmcl-devel] Apple To Require Sandboxing For Mac App Store Apps - Slashdot

[Alexander Repenning]

On Nov 5, 2011, at 12:56 PM, Andrew Shalit wrote:

> On Nov 5, 2011, at 1:45 PM, Andrew Shalit <alms at clozure.com> wrote:
> 
>> We've been looking into this.
>> 
>> As far as we've seen, there shouldn't be an issue with CCL-based apps per se.  On the other hand, the entitlements that are available are very limited, so there are many kinds of apps that you wouldn't be able to sell, regardless of what programming language they were written in.  For example, sandboxed apps can only access individual files that are selected by the user with the standard Open dialog; there is no way to gain read or read/write access to a whole folder of files, even if the user chooses the folder.  There is no way to access files in your home directory, or even know where your home directory is.  There is no way to do any generalized file system access.  So you can say goodbye to FTP programs, disk cleanup programs, alternate Finders, etc.
> 
> To say a bit more:
> 
> No development environments or website construction tools, because there is no way to access all the files in a project, not to mention linking in third-party libraries. 
> 
> It's really very limited. 


Indeed. That would be a crazy constraint. Do you think this would even apply to a bundle? There would have to be some way to deal with folders.

> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Apple just extended the deadline from November 1st until March and they've started soliciting feedback from developers.  I hope that they expand the range of entitlements that are available.  As it stands, the range of apps that will be available in the Mac App Store will drop dramatically come March.
>> 
>> I'd encourage anyone who is a registered Mac developer to let Apple know what you think.


Yes, lets do that. The delay suggest some hesitation towards this amazingly restrictive scheme. It would be hard to imagine developers would welcome this move. Hopefully, Apple is going to listen.

Alex


>> 

Prof. Alexander Repenning

University of Colorado
Computer Science Department
Boulder, CO 80309-430

vCard: http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~ralex/AlexanderRepenning.vcf


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