Can't be an easier choice to push globally a linker switch, if it exists, to disable codesigning altogether for MP software?
On Wed, 23 Sep 2020, 03:09 Saagar Jha, <saa...@saagarjha.com> wrote: > As far as I understand, ad-hoc codesigning is not actually really meant to > protect a file on disk because you can just ad-hoc sign again when you > modify the file; instead it simplifies some of Apple’s own code because it > removes the special case of a binary that doesn’t have a signature (which > until now has had a number of quirks and extra checks throughout the > operating system). A more cynical interpretation would be that Apple would > like to flip the switch to “paid developer account-signed software only” at > some point in the future, but every engineer has denied that this is the > goal when asked so I guess that if this will happen it hopefully won’t be > anytime soon. > > I am still unsure why ld adds a signature but strip and install_name_tool > don’t reapply an ad-hoc signature to a signed binary that they modify. This > might be worth filing a feedback for. > > > On Sep 22, 2020, at 15:24, Ken Cunningham < > ken.cunningham.web...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > On 2020-09-22, at 12:58 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote: > >> > >> To me it seems unrealistic for Apple to suggest that an infinite number > of open source projects, many of whose developers have never seen a Mac, > should now add code to their build systems to codesign things on macOS. > Apple made a point of stating during WWDC that they love open source > software; imposing busy work on the open source community is not a good way > to show that love. > > > > As I read it, the linker automatically codesigns the binary when you > link, which is usually the final step in the process. So nobody has to > change anything there. > > > > But if you later modify that final linked binary by stripping it (I > guess ) or changing the libraries around with install_name_tool (which I > believe MESON does to every single install :>) then you invalidate the > signature, as you should IMHO. > > > > I'm trying to imagine how Jeremy might prevent hackers from > surreptitiously modifying signed binaries with strip or install_name_tool > (which is good) while letting people modify signed binaries with strip or > install_name_tool without invalidating the signature -- I don't > immediately see how you can have it both ways. But maybe Jeremy has some > trick that works for this I can't think of. > > > > I won't be surprised if the solution is that you have to resign them > after doing that, though. > > > > Ken > > > >