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Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

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Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#21

Post by makomk »

kevincox wrote: post #18
pilif wrote: post #13

Under windows, when I sign a binary, I also have the option (well - it's more like a strong recommendation) to time-stamp the signature. That way, windows can check whether the signature was made during a time when the certificate was valid. This means that when your certificate expires, you won't be able to sign new binaries, but at least the existing ones continue to work. This is something Apple should really cons…

How does this help? In order to provide any security you would need to limit the time from signing, which would be very similar to just issuing the certificate for that much longer. There is no way to verify that the binary was actually signed at that time.

It uses trusted timestamping servers run by certificate authorities to sign the timestamp information.

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#22

Post by flohofwoe »

tlrobinson wrote: post #16
pilif wrote: post #13

Under windows, when I sign a binary, I also have the option (well - it's more like a strong recommendation) to time-stamp the signature. That way, windows can check whether the signature was made during a time when the certificate was valid. This means that when your certificate expires, you won't be able to sign new binaries, but at least the existing ones continue to work. This is something Apple should really cons…

Does Microsoft co-sign the binary or something? If not that feature seems like it would defeat the purpose of expiring certificates.

It means that the certificate was valid at the time of signing. Trying to sign an executable after the certificate has expired will not produce a valid code-signed executable. It totally makes sense. That it is possible to make the certificate valid by simply setting the system clock (this works both on Windows and according to the article, OSX) shows that the whole certificate expiration thing is basically useless.

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#23

Post by shostack »

barbs wrote: post #14

Completely by-the-by, but I couldn't help but notice the small advertisement at the bottom for Smile PDFPen[0]. I'm using uBlock Origin, but this wasn't blocked by it, presumably because it's unique to this site, and is indistinguishable from the rest of the content. However, it's very unobtrusive, doesn't track me at all and has no influence on the actual content of the article, so I have no problems with it being h…

You're still being tracked. The URL itself is encoded, so there's tracking there, and when you visit the link I have 20+ tracking tags load from Google, Yahoo, MS, Rubicon, etc.

Unless you blocked all of that, expect to see retargeting ads for PDFpen in the near future.

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#24

Post by contingencies »

filsmick wrote: post #10

I was bitten by this this week. Tried to reuse my installer to install OS X El Capitan on a MBP without redownloading it over my super-fast 2Mbps internet connection. First, I try to install it by just copying the installer app - "can't be verified". Then I make a bootable USB stick using DiskMaker X - "can't be verified". I run an integrity check on the installer - all good. I then try running `/path/to/Install\ OS\…

super-fast 2Mbps internet connection

Don't complain. Even with torrents and 100Mbps fiber, we max out at 1MB/sec here. It reportedly costs 20,000CNY/month (~USD$4500) for an uninhibited 512k connection out of mainland China, if you can get it. (You generally can't.)

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#25

Post by LordKano »

mikeash wrote: post #17
filsmick wrote: post #10

I was bitten by this this week. Tried to reuse my installer to install OS X El Capitan on a MBP without redownloading it over my super-fast 2Mbps internet connection. First, I try to install it by just copying the installer app - "can't be verified". Then I make a bootable USB stick using DiskMaker X - "can't be verified". I run an integrity check on the installer - all good. I then try running `/path/to/Install\ OS\…

Apple is just awful about providing meaningful, useful errors. The worst is AirPlay. When it fails to connect, which is about 33% of the time, there's nothing. It doesn't even pop up a generic alert, it just silently (or not so silently, if you're playing music) reverts to local playback. Many other examples abound. Most errors at least provide a message, but one so generic as to be useless.

I go back to the days of System Bombs and Unimplemented Trap errors.

It was maddening.

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#26

Post by jsprogrammer »

scblock wrote: post #15
k33n wrote: post #2

Apple has been getting sloppier and sloppier over the past 5 years or so. For instance, even if you have selected "automatically set my timezone based on my location", it won't update unless you actually open the date/time preferences panel every time you change zones.

How is this relevant?

It is sloppy to have your installs expire (presumably by accident) with a not very helpful error message?

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#27

Post by gherkin0 »

mikeash wrote: post #17
filsmick wrote: post #10

I was bitten by this this week. Tried to reuse my installer to install OS X El Capitan on a MBP without redownloading it over my super-fast 2Mbps internet connection. First, I try to install it by just copying the installer app - "can't be verified". Then I make a bootable USB stick using DiskMaker X - "can't be verified". I run an integrity check on the installer - all good. I then try running `/path/to/Install\ OS\…

Apple is just awful about providing meaningful, useful errors. The worst is AirPlay. When it fails to connect, which is about 33% of the time, there's nothing. It doesn't even pop up a generic alert, it just silently (or not so silently, if you're playing music) reverts to local playback. Many other examples abound. Most errors at least provide a message, but one so generic as to be useless.

That's pretty terrible. No software performs flawlessly, so good error messages are a key part of usability.

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#28

Post by jen20 »

radicalbyte wrote: post #5
santaclaus wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I flew west coast to east coast yesterday and the time on my machine updated with no manual intervention.

Worked fine for me going from NL > UK yesterday. Yosemite.

Works for me probably 8-10 times per month going between time zones. Now Flux... that never realises...

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#29

Post by escobar »

The whole "old installer" and "bootable disk" has been a pain-point since 10.8 for me. I have done 4 or 5 clean installs for friends in the last 6 months, and I tried to make a 10.10 or 10.11 bootable USB... no go - each time, a new issue.

I have ended up every time using my older 10.8 (ML) install USB every time, then just firing off the free App Store upgrade to 10.11.

Re: Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work

#30

Post by awinder »

k33n wrote: post #2

Apple has been getting sloppier and sloppier over the past 5 years or so. For instance, even if you have selected "automatically set my timezone based on my location", it won't update unless you actually open the date/time preferences panel every time you change zones.

Funny, I've had crazy clock skew problems pretty consistently with Windows computers over the last several years, and always wondered "why can't this be a solved problem like on my mac"
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