> In 2020, distributing requires learning the intricacies of certificates, code signing, provisioning profiles, hardening, notarization, .dmg creation, gatekeeper, and paying a $99 per year fee.
I had to manually create, sign, and notarize a Mac app the other day and it was total madness. It took multiple tabs of Apple documentation (new documentation, I might add, created this year because everyone complained last year about how the process was impenetrable) and back-and-forth with some seasoned Mac devs before I had something that would launch successfully on a fully updated, GateKeepered system.
I had to manually create, sign, and notarize a Mac app the other day and it was total madness. It took multiple tabs of Apple documentation (new documentation, I might add, created this year because everyone complained last year about how the process was impenetrable) and back-and-forth with some seasoned Mac devs before I had something that would launch successfully on a fully updated, GateKeepered system.