Wowfunhappy's Chromium Legacy Downloader

[Wowfunhappy]

Unlike Google Chrome, Chromium Legacy does not have any built-in update functionality, so I've been using my own downloader to install new builds and apply a set of customizations. This downloader has become considerably more elaborate over time, so I wanted to share it here!

This PrefPane is designed for OS X 10.7 – 10.9. It may work on newer versions of OS X, but I make no guarantees!

Download:

https://jonathanalland.com/downloads/chromium-legacy-downloader.dmg

Extract the zip file, then double click the .prefpane to add it to System Preferences. Install your first version of Chromium Legacy in System Preferences; afterwards, future updates can be installed from the new "Update" option in Chromium's menu bar (with System Preferences as a backup, in case Chromium can't be opened).

In addition to installing releases from Github, this downloader will:

• Add Automatic Updates
• Prevent graphical glitches from appearing when a window is resized.
• Work around scroll bar glitches on some devices.
• Stop the UI from jarringly jumping downward when the menu bar is revealed in fullscreen mode.
• Install the ISRG X1 Root Certificate, if needed, for compatibility with websites that use Let's Encrypt. (Optional)
• Install a kernel extension to prevent kernel panics from occurring while running Chromium Legacy. (Optional)
• Automatically download and install Widevine libraries for DRM video playback. (Optional; 10.8+)
• Replace the modern Big Sur-style Chromium app icon with a 2012-era Chrome icon.
• Tell Chromium to bypass the system proxy (which you may be using to fix HTTPS issues in older applications, but which is unnecessary for—and can cause issues in—modern Chromium).
• Change some miscellaneous default settings to better align with Apple's 2013-era human interface guidelines.

Because some of these changes are implemented via Chromium policies, you will see a message that Chromium is "Managed by your organization". This is merely a consequence of how the downloader works; no one can see your browsing history or remotely change settings.

Source code is included in the download (right click the .prefpane and select "Show Package Contents"). I may release updates from time to time, so I recommend re-downloading the downloader itself every few months or so. (Yes, updating an updater, the irony is not lost on me... sorry.)

Please feel free to ask questions or report problems in this topic. However, please don't open any Github issues, because I'm not Bluebox and I don't want him to get bug reports for someone else's software. Enjoy!

[blueboxd]

Thank you!!
I'll add this option to README.md!

[blueboxd]

@Wowfunhappy
Please check #33.

[Wowfunhappy]

Thanks, sorry for cluttering up your issues!

@pook52mb I'm sorry that happened! The PrefPane uses Apple's LaunchServices API (via Applescript) to find the path to your default version of Chromium. This allows the updater to work even if you save Chromium somewhere other than /Applications. I'm quite hesitant to change this, because I want users to be able to organize their apps however they choose, and I want the updater to run quickly and without friction.

The good news is, I think (but can't promise, please make a backup) this won't happen again, because LaunchServices should look for Chromium on your boot drive before checking elsewhere.

[pook52mb]

Thank you for the reply. Now that I understand how the PrefPane works a little better, I know why it updated the only (older) copy in the non-boot partition. Michael B. Pook 495 Spence Street Winnipeg, MB R3B 2R8 Canada 204-956-4828 From: "Jonathan" ***@***.***> To: "blueboxd/chromium-legacy" ***@***.***> Cc: "pook52mb" ***@***.***>, "Mention" ***@***.***> Sent: Friday, October 15, 2021 6:32:47 PM Subject: Re: [blueboxd/chromium-legacy] Wowfunhappy's Chromium Legacy Downloader (Discussion #25) Thanks, sorry for cluttering up your issues! [ https://github.com/pook52mb | @pook52mb ] I'm sorry that happened! The PrefPane uses the LaunchServices API (via Applescript) to find the path to your default version of Chromium. This allows the updater to work even if you save Chromium somewhere other than /Applications . I'm quite hesitant to change this, because I want users to be able to organize their apps however they choose, and I want the updater to run quickly and without friction. The good news is, I think (but can't promise, please make a backup) this won't happen again, because LaunchServices should look for Chromium on your boot drive before checking elsewhere. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, [ #25 (reply in thread) | view it on GitHub ] , or [ https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALBEKB6XHIB5HSBKE4DTSNLUHC2Z7ANCNFSM5BLH3HXA | unsubscribe ] . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for [ https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 | iOS ] or [ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub | Android ] .

[Wowfunhappy]

I have updated the downloader to automatically detect if the ISRG X1 Root certificate is not installed, and to (optionally) install it if necessary. This will fix "Your Connection May Not Be Private" errors on websites that use Let's Encrypt for https.

[pook52mb]

Thank you for the update in November. Now that stable versions are being built, they are only showing up on the "Select Build" window as one stable. There is no way to choose a particular one. e.g. 96.0.4664.93 or 96.0.4664.110. The .93 version is listed above the .110 version on "https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy/releases". The .93 version is installed by the downloader, not the higher version. Would you please update the downloader to list each stable by the version number.

[Wowfunhappy]

Making this work properly with stable versions is indeed on my list of things to do. I’ve been busy with grad school finals but they are finally over.

Actually—now that stable versions are a thing... I think it’s finally time to add automatic updates.

As a temporary workaround, restart your Mac and then reinstall “stable” to get the latest one. (Restarting clears out your caches)

[Wowfunhappy]

The latest version of the downloader won't completely fall over on stable releases. More updates coming soon.

I'd like to get this streamlined to the point where a complete technology layperson could use it. I think it's doable!

[Wowfunhappy]

(For posterity, the downloader now works fully with stable releases, and has for a couple months.)

[jgrisham]

Thanks for creating / updating this (and also for sharing your other tools, including 'Legacy Mac Proxy')!

[Wowfunhappy]

Okay, I've updated this again! The downloader will now default to installing the latest stable release, and new stable releases will be installed automatically in the background, just like Google Chrome!

And just like Google Chrome, I've removed the "Update" option from the menu bar, since this should be happening automatically—but, you can of course always use System Preferences to downgrade to a previous build if there's a problem, or to switch to a non-stable build.

This was a pretty major change, so there may be some issues. Let me know if you encounter any weirdness.

There is also now an uninstall script.

[pook52mb]

Thanks for the recent updates. I removed the old downloader and installed the latest one. It works fine so far. Just one teensy-weensy issue. When the downloader is done, the icon on the app is the multicoloured Chrome one, NOT the blue and white Chromium one. I just copy and paste the correct one in the get info windows, to make it look right.

[Wowfunhappy]

This is by design (see the first post), and is not a recent change. If you prefer a different icon, I recommend replacing the icns files in Library/PreferencePanes/Chromium Legacy Downloader.prefpane/Contents/Resources. This will ensure your preferred icon is reapplied after future updates.

[johnrosshunt]

Love it. Works great! But, I'm getting the dreaded:

on every launch. Is anybody else experiencing this?

ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.7.5
BuildVersion: 11G63

[Wowfunhappy]

Odd, I can't replicate this in my 10.7 VM, even after turning on the Firewall in System Preferences (as I assume you have on your Mac). I will say it doesn't surprise me that Chromium wants to accept incoming connections, it's probably needed for e.g. WebRTC. Does the message come up again even if you press "Allow", or do you not want to press "Allow"?

[Wowfunhappy]

I've updated this again! Changes:

• Users are now be able to switch between stable and canary releases in the preference pane.
• If you install any build other than the most recent stable release, automatic updates will be disabled for one week.

[Wowfunhappy]

@mrkapqa (Moving conversation here from #57)

My Chromium Legacy Downloader Preference Pane automatically switches from the Chromium print dialog to the native system dialog. This is done:

1. To better comply with Apple's 2013-era human interface guidelines.
2. To have one less window which displays without a border or window shadow.
3. Because I do not like the print preview.

In order to restore Google’s custom print dialog, you need to uninstall the Preference Pane using the script included in the DMG, and re-download vanilla Chromium Legacy from Github releases. Sorry, you can't have both. :(

the chromium downloader also downloads google chrome, so i got confused by thinking it is enabled,

I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

The Preference Pane replaces Chromium Legacy's ugly gray icon with a 2013-era Chrome icon. However, it is still Chromium Legacy, not Google Chrome.

If you tell the Preference Pane to install the Widevine libraries necessary for DRM video playback, it will download a temporary copy of Google Chrome in order to extract the needed files. This app is never run (it can't run on old OS's), and it is deleted immediately afterwards.

[aeiouaeiouaeiouaeiouaeiouaeiou]

Tried this today and was rather disappointed:

• How do I use sync with this update tool? It erases Google tokens to synchronize the application.
• How do I disable system proxy bypass? This is extremely critical for me because I use some server to bypass censorship.

[Wowfunhappy]

How do I use sync with this update tool? It erases Google tokens to synchronize the application.How do I use sync with this update tool? It erases Google tokens to synchronize the application.

I don't understand the question. The Preference Pane does not do anything to Google's tokens. Sync should work if you enable "Allow Chromium sign-in" under Chromium settings → You and Google → Sync and Google Services. I don't actually use this feature, so let me know if it doesn't work, but it should.

How do I disable system proxy bypass? This is extremely critical for me because I use some server to bypass censorship.

You should be able to remove this by opening Chromium Legacy Downloader.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Chromium in a text editor and deleting--no-proxy-server. Afterwards, restart your Mac to clear the temporary items folder, and reinstall Chromium via the Preference Pane.

I hope this helps!

[aeiouaeiouaeiouaeiouaeiouaeiou]

The Preference Pane does not do anything to Google's tokens.

I generated my own tokens using the Google Cloud Platform as mentioned in gist instruction.
Also I fixed the script like this and now everything works as it should (except for DNS over HTTPS, which is never available in managed mode).

[Wowfunhappy]

I have updated the downloader:

• Chromium version numbers ≥ 100 will now be being displayed in the correct order.
• I've added a possible workaround for #44

Update: It doesn't fully work around #44, but it may cause it to appear less often.

[Wowfunhappy]

I have updated the Preference Pane to include a kernel extension which should fix #44 once and for all, provided you are on the latest versions of 10.7, 10.8, or 10.9.

[Wowfunhappy]

@pjpreilly It doesn't look like I'll be able to make this work on i386, it's too different. :(

[pjpreilly]

@Wowfunhappy ... No problem since I haven't seen it in a LONG time. You might wanna put a caveat for the uninformed user attempting to install it.....

[pjpreilly]

@Wowfunhappy ... No problem since I haven't seen it in a LONG time. You might wanna put a caveat for the uninformed user attempting to install it.....

@Wowfunhappy ... spoke too soon... got one today on stable [#853]

[Wowfunhappy]

@pjpreilly Krackers made me realize I was doing something stupid the first time I tried to get 32 bit working, so I may try again at some point in the future. No promises as to when though.

[pjpreilly]

Well... If the spirit moves you @Wowfunhappy anytime soon I'm seeing this a couple times a week ......

@pjpreilly Krackers made me realize I was doing something stupid the first time I tried to get 32 bit working, so I may try again at some point in the future. No promises as to when though.

[Wowfunhappy]

@pjpreilly Is sync not working for you?

Can you try uninstalling (via the included script) and then reinstalling the PrefPane, and then making sure "Allow Chromium sign-in" is enabled in Chrome's settings?

[pjpreilly]

... & honestly being on Lion I see no real advantage to using your version with the tweaks.

[pjpreilly]

@Wowfunhappy every time I open a new tab/window whether it's a link to follow or a blank tab/window I get a slew (22 with google.com ) of these errors in the console with your tweaked version but not @blueboxd 's version..... thought you should be aware...

[0x0-0x24024].org.chromium.Chromium: objc[576]: Object 0x10de2a750 of class __NSCFString autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking - break on objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug

[Wowfunhappy]

@pjpreilly Interesting, thanks for the heads up! I don't think this is a real problem I introduced, more information is getting logged because I'm launching Chromium via a shell. Chromium Legacy definitely has some memory leaks (try the leaks command on it), but they're very minor, I've seen far worse in commercial software!

[pjpreilly]

(try the leaks command on it).... what exactly should I enter.....?

[pjpreilly]

I ran....
sudo leaks -nostacks -nocontext pid
& both have a LONG output of leaks if you want to check it out....my expertise ends with running the command though.....

[Wowfunhappy]

The PrefPane has been updated with a new version of KQueueScanContinuePatch which should work on 32 bit Lion. Please uninstall the old version before updating.

cc @pjpreilly :)

[pjpreilly]

Console msgs indicate it's loading correctly....

[pjpreilly]

Are hits/caught logged to the console....?

[Wowfunhappy]

Are hits/caught logged to the console....?

Not by the kernel, because doing that in assembly isn't practical.

However, you can check Console → User Diagnostic Reports for anything that begins with "Chromium Helper". If the "Crashed Thread" is Chrome_ChildIOThread, you're looking at the backtrace of a crash which would have been a full kernel panic if not for the KQueueScanContinuePatch kext.

[pjpreilly]

.. now is that a recoverable crash thread... will a tab crash or the whole browser...

[Wowfunhappy]

I've seen all three of the below:

1. The crash is completely invisible to the user.
2. A single tab or iFrame crashes and must be reloaded.
3. The entire browser crashes.

Scenario 1 is the most common for me. When something like Chromium's networking process crashes, Chromium just silently restarts it. Scenario 3 is extremely rare, but it has happened to me once or twice.

[RJVB]

I'm sorry, I don't understand your question. Are you downloading releases from Github or installing them via the PrefPane?

Sorry, I thought I said rather clearly that I'm installing updates manually, so downloading from GH and then moving them into place after running my HFS compressor on the app bundle and running some quick tests for regressions I don't want to live with.

If you want the PrefPane's fixes/workarounds/etc, but do not want Chromium to autoupdate, I suppose you could download the latest version of the PrefPane, install it, download a Chromium release, and then delete the PrefPane in System Preferences without using the full uninstaller script.

It seems to me there was already an option not to let the prefpane apply updates automatically. I would be fine with the PrefPane downloading a selected version on demand and applying the fixes in some designated download area, as long as that doesn't include side-effects like killing the Finder ;)

[Wowfunhappy]

I would be fine with the PrefPane downloading a selected version on demand and applying the fixes in some designated download area, as long as that doesn't include side-effects like killing the Finder ;)

There's not, although you can use the method I outlined. Downloading a version other than the latest release will stop autoupdates for one week.

I would be fine with the PrefPane downloading a selected version on demand and applying the fixes in some designated download area, as long as that doesn't include side-effects like killing the Finder ;)

That should only happen when you're initially installing Widevine.

[RJVB]

All source code is included in the PrefPane (`show package contents`). (It's a bit of a mess.)

Hah, you can say that again... using AppleScript doesn't exactly help either to make things readable (so much for Apple's efforts to develop a scripting language using common language...) Was there an advantage of using AScript (at least for the actual work being done) over just good ole shell scripts, besides being able to put up GUI user interaction stuff? I seem to see that you get to chose where to save the new app bundle, is that correct? I haven't yet figured out where the Finder killing happens.

[Wowfunhappy]

Was there an advantage of using AScript (at least for the actual work being done) over just good ole shell scripts, besides being able to put up GUI user interaction stuff?

When I started this, I wrote it in Applescript because it made it easy to display a simple UI via display dialog. The whole thing was like 30 lines and it just made sense. Then it grew and grew and grew over time. I very much need to rewrite the whole thing!

I haven't yet figured out where the Finder killing happens.

Technically, it doesn't "kill" Finder, it asks nicely! :)))

In Downloader.scipt:

tell application "Finder" to quit
do shell script "hdiutil attach " & tempFolder & "../googlechrome.dmg"
do shell script "cp -R /Volumes/Google\\ Chrome/Google\\ Chrome.app/Contents/Frameworks/Google\\ Chrome\\ Framework.framework/Libraries/WidevineCdm " & stableStoragePath & "WidevineCdm"
do shell script "hdiutil detach /Volumes/Google\\ Chrome"
tell application "Finder" to activate

As I said, this will only happen when you're installing Widevine, which should only happen one time. I need to mount the dmg of official Google Chrome in order to extract the Widevine library, but this causes the "Drag Google Chrome to Applications" window to appear temporarily. People were sending me all sorts of emails about why they were being asked to install Google Chrome.

I seem to see that you get to chose where to save the new app bundle, is that correct?

Correct, I don't want to make any assumptions about how people prefer to organize their apps.

[RJVB]

On Saturday March 30 2024 07:11:50 Jonathan wrote: I very much need to rewrite the whole thing!

I didn't want to say that (but did think it ;) ) Easiest thing would probably be to keep an AppleScript interface but put all the scripting commands that don't need user-interaction into a single shell script.

In `Downloader.scipt`:

Hadn't gotten there yet!

As I said, this will only happen when you're installing Widevine, which should only happen one time.

Every update to Widevine would also be a single event? ;)

I need to mount the dmg of official Google Chrome in order to extract the Widevine library, but this causes the "Drag Google Chrome to Applications" window to appear for a few seconds.

In MacPorts we also have ports that just "wrap" the official DMG "installer"; I can't recall ever having seen such a window. I assume that'd simply be the fancyview of the folder that's on the DMG btw?

Correct, I don't want to make any assumptions about how people prefer to organize their apps.

Good. Looks like I'll just have to hack out the part where it will save to the place where the app bundle is installed so I can keep doing things my way. I already saw the updater scpt works ... I triggered it accidentally from the AppleScript editor thinking I could run just the selected part of a script... :D

[Wowfunhappy]

Every update to Widevine would also be a single event? ;)

Actually no! You'd think that, but once Widevine is installed, Chromium will update it automatically. 🤷‍♂️

[RJVB]

Actually no! You'd think that, but once Widevine is installed, Chromium will update it automatically. 🤷‍♂️

Ah, yes, just like Waterfox did, auto-destruction the functionality when a version requiring a newer OS version was pushed. Doesn't that happen with Chromium too?? Anyway, I figured out how adapt the updater to my quirks (including adding -p to all cp invocations!). Less work complex than I thought, though you do have to do it at least twice :p Turns out I never noticed that "stock" Chromium Legacy has a Profiles menu; why do you disable that one?

[Wowfunhappy]

Ah, yes, just like Waterfox did, auto-destruction the functionality when a version requiring a newer OS version was pushed. Doesn't that happen with Chromium too??

The fact that Widevine works at all is mostly luck. (And it actually doesn't work on some sites anymore, such as Netflix.) It will stop working completely some day. Websites won't work with an out-of-date Widevine, so preventing autoupdate wouldn't help. And of course the Widevine binary can't be modified.

Turns out I never noticed that "stock" Chromium Legacy has a Profiles menu; why do you disable that one?

Profile switching is disabled by the PrefPane. At some point, switching profiles in Chromium legacy could very rarely corrupt the profile. Frankly that bug is probably gone by now, but I've just kept profile switching turned off via Chromium policy. Which means the menu would be useless.

[Stepan-sovok1917]

Hello! How to make Chrome password manager work? I tried editing org.chromium.Chromium.plist file or typing "defaults write org.chromium.Chromium PasswordManagerEnabled -bool true" in terminal but it didnt help

[Wowfunhappy]

Sorry, I don't know! I highly recommend using a password manager like such as Bitwarden which isn't tied to a single web browser!

[RJVB]

Huh? AFAICT Chromium saves passwords for me?!

[RJVB]

FWIW, that latest updated I pulled via the prefpane, a few days ago, kept asking access to my keychain and location each time I launched it. I didn't change anything the downloader scpt does other than adding `-p` to the `cp` commands and not installing the auto-updater plist; I did NOT touch the re-signing instructions. Can those get lost if you use `rsync` to copy the new app bundle content into the existing app bundle? It's pretty clear that there was something off with the signing; the issues went away after a "deep" re-signing with just the ad-hoc signing identity (`'-'`)... Totally unrelated, but do you happen to know of a way to get rid of the "open in app" "button" I get in the URL widget on some sites like Instagram? Clicking on that actually creates a Chrome application thingy, that's completely pointless because launching that (if the browser isn't already running) ALSO launches the entire browsing session...

[Wowfunhappy]

FWIW, that latest updated I pulled via the prefpane, a few days ago, kept asking access to my keychain and location each time I launched it.

It asks me this to. I'm not convinced it's related to the PrefPane, but I really don't know what causes it!

[Wowfunhappy]

The PrefPane has been updated with a fix for #224.

[Wowfunhappy]

The PrefPane has been updated with a fix for #242.

Because no new versions of Chromium Legacy have been released in a while, and previous downloads are cached for a while, I recommend using the uninstall script on the old PrefPane before installing the new version.

[Wowfunhappy]

Thank you! Now I know what's wrong—I think this has actually been broken on Lion for some time. I will fix...

[ClaudeFR]

OK, fine, thank you ! (am I the only one using Chromium on an outdated Lion ???)

I came across your downloader in March 2021 with a news of a Mac-dedicated french site called MacG (=MacGénération).
https://www.macg.co/logiciels/2021/03/chromium-legacy-permet-dutiliser-une-version-recente-de-chrome-sur-de-vieux-mac-120543

I used it until it broke, but I don't remember exactly when it happened ??? probably end of 2023 or beginning of 2024 ???

[Wowfunhappy]

(am I the only one using Chromium on an outdated Lion ???)

I'm sure you're not, but no one else actually told me it was broken. The problem was also very stupid on my part.

Try redownloading the PrefPane, and use the uninstaller to remove the old version before installing the new one. Does it work now?

[ClaudeFR]

Yes it launches now ! :-)

But I lost all my saved passwords, and Chromium shows a window saying that the password manager has to connect with Keychain, so I must relaunch Chromium and authorize the access to the Keychain... except that when I relaunch Chromium the window of the Keychain allowing the access authorization doesn't appear !

[Wowfunhappy]

I'm glad it's working!

I've never entirely understood how Chromium interacts with Keychain Access or what causes the authorization message to appear—I see that dialog on startup regardless of whether I use my PrefPane or a vanilla build. That said, I very highly recommend a password manager like Bitwarden which isn't tied to any one browser.

[RJVB]

On Sunday October 27 2024 06:42:20 ClaudeFR wrote: What happens if you open Terminal and run chmod +x /Applications/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium Nothing changes : the app still bounces twice and disappears

Hasn't terminal output been (mostly) disabled in the CL builds? Maybe there's a switch to enable more output to learn what's going on here?

[Wowfunhappy]

I thought ClaudeFR's problem might be that the Chromium binary wasn't set to executable for some reason, so I just wanted him/her to set the executable bit.

Chromium Legacy outputs quite a bit when it's launched from the Terminal, which is what I've now asked ClaudeFR to do (I didn't last time). I don't know if there's more it could output.

[RJVB]

I've never entirely understood how Chromium interacts with Keychain Access

IIRC it uses the platform key chain facility as a means to (un)lock its own password store. Which needs to be unlocked for signing in to the browser sync server.

[ClaudeFR]

I tried to manually add Chromium in the "Access Control" tab of the "Chromium safe storage" item but it doesn't work.
Then, still in this "Access Control" tab I switched from "Confirm before allowing access" to "Allow all applications to access this item", and then it works. But I'm afraid that it could lower the security ???

[Wowfunhappy]

It gets signed with an ad-hoc signature on 10.8 and above (using jtool), but not 10.7 because that OS is too old to sign Chromium Legacy properly. But as I said I'm on 10.9 and I also get the dialog box. And I still get the dialog if I use a vanilla build from Github!

I don't think any of this is why ClaudeFR lost his passwords, because if he pressed "Allow" then should have access. I think he may have lost his passwords while experimenting with older versions trying to find one that worked—which is exactly the right thing to do when there's a problem, but a side effect is running older versions can cause incompatibilities in the profile and Chromium appears to respond by deleting stuff.

As I said, I highly recommend using Bitwarden going forward, it will make your life better and (as long as you set a vault timeout) it's more secure than relying on an ancient OS to protect your decryption key.

[ClaudeFR]

Sorry, my mistake : I didn't loose all my passwords, they simply were not displayed with WFH-Chromium because it does not (or cannot) connect to the Keychain.
If I quit WFH's Chromium and launch a 120.xxxx "normal" Chromium then the pass words are back, meaning that they still are in my Application Support Chromium folder, but WFH-Chromium cannot display and use them.

[Wowfunhappy]

That's interesting! Maybe because they have different code signatures?

I'm sorry I can't help here, I don't use saved passwords at all, the idea of having my passwords tied to one browser scares me.

[krackers]

But as I said I'm on 10.9 and I also get the dialog box. And I still get the dialog if I use a vanilla build from Github!

I'm assuming that by vanilla you mean bluebox's version (not upstream) and you did delete the keychain entry between runs?

But yes if you rely on keychain saved passwords please back them up separately before experimenting with software. I don't know if there's a way to export from chrome, but I guess you could always open up devtools on the setting page and screen scrape.

[Wowfunhappy]

I'm assuming that by vanilla you mean bluebox's version (not upstream) and you did delete the keychain entry between runs?

Yes to your first question but I'm not entirely sure I deleted the keychain entry between runs. I should try again some time.

[RJVB]

FWIW: the OS has always presented a dialog to give a different version of an app access to the keychain (or entries therein). As far as I understand, app-signing is to allow other things (without asking for permission first, or asking for permission every time). Like accessing the internet and accepting incoming connections, for instance.

[hugh198]

Doesnt seem to work for me on macOS 12.7.6

[Wowfunhappy]

Thanks! I don't test the PrefPane on anything newer than OS X 10.9. It's known to work on OS X 10.10 as well, but on anything newer I don't recommend it.

[RJVB]

Thanks! I don't test the PrefPane on anything newer than OS X 10.9. It's known to work on OS X 10.10 as well, but on anything newer I don't recommend it.

Your prefpane is basically nothing but a script, AppleScript IIRC. Maybe it'll run more easily on more OS versions as a standalone application - supposing that Apple didn't ditch their scripting language sometime after 10.10?

[Wowfunhappy]

There's is a small binary which loads the script, and I've long known this (the binary) doesn't work at all above 10.14.

But more importantly, I do code injection which modern Apple really doesn't like, and I don't really known how modern macOS would respond.

[RJVB]

But more importantly, I do code injection which modern Apple really doesn't like, and I don't really known how modern macOS would respond.

People wanting to rely on such matters (or legacy software for that matter) might want to consider turning of SIP and family?

[Wowfunhappy]

People are definitely free to play around with that.

Look, if people can get this working on modern or modern-ish macOS and want to use it, that's great! I don't want to test it or think about it. The Prefpane is designed for OS X 10.7 – 10.9.