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Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

thume.ca

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Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#81

Post by lunixbochs »

luizfelberti wrote: post #77

Does anyone have a tip to keep macOS from phoning home when you run unsigned binaries? I almost locked up my entire computer this week, presumably because of this... here's the story for that: I had setup unbound listening on 127.0.0.1:53 as the only DNS resolver for all network interfaces, so that I hijack several responses that I might want to (e.g. adnet sinkholes) and forward the rest to Google/Cloudflare over TL…

Edit: removed instructions to disable gatekeeper as sibling comment looks like a much better solution and writeup.

I’m also curious if the self signed binaries in Big Sur fix this problem.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#82

Post by spurgu »

dschuessler wrote: post #69

To add some shortcuts that I use regularly but don't appear on the list: - Ctrl+Cmd+Space brings up a Unicode-Char-Picker - Shift+Alt+Cmd+V pastes from your clipboard without formatting from the source - Shift+Fn+Ctrl+Power shuts off the display

For shutting off the display (locking) I use Shift+Ctrl+Power (not Fn). Or are the two somehow different?

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#83

Post by missing_paren »

derefr wrote: post #58
missing_paren wrote: post #5

> cmd+backtick is like cmd+tab but between windows of the same app. Well, I wish that were completely true, because cmd+backtick only cycles through the windows of the application, while cmd+tab lets you select the application you want. From Ubuntu (or maybe rather Ubuntu's default desktop environment?) I am used to cmd+backtick allowing me to select the window - I did find an application that does enable this behavi…

I think the Control Center’s “windows of active application” view is what you’re looking for. Hit Ctrl+Down. It’s keyboard-navigable!

Can that be remapped to cmd+backtick perhaps?

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#84

Post by xenadu02 »

luizfelberti wrote: post #77

Does anyone have a tip to keep macOS from phoning home when you run unsigned binaries? I almost locked up my entire computer this week, presumably because of this... here's the story for that: I had setup unbound listening on 127.0.0.1:53 as the only DNS resolver for all network interfaces, so that I hijack several responses that I might want to (e.g. adnet sinkholes) and forward the rest to Google/Cloudflare over TL…

First: binaries that ship with the system are not included in this because they're platform binaries. Tools like ps or grep won't be included.

Second: once the binary has been checked for malware it won't be checked again.

Third: if the connection fails immediately the malware check is skipped immediately. So if you are offline or otherwise force the relevant server DNS names to be rejected immediately it shouldn't wait for any timeout.

Fourth: anything you build with the Xcode UI is automatically excluded since you are using the user interface and explicitly asking to run "unknown" code.

Fifth: Anything listed as a Developer Tool in Privacy will have its child processes excluded from GateKeeper scanning. This command will make the category show up and put Terminal in it:

"sudo spctl developer-mode enable-terminal"

Once it shows up there go to Privacy and check the box to enable Terminal.

If you run CI or automation you can do the same by putting your Jenkins or other binary in the list, causing all subprocesses to be excluded.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#85

Post by luizfelberti »

lunixbochs wrote: post #81
luizfelberti wrote: post #77

Does anyone have a tip to keep macOS from phoning home when you run unsigned binaries? I almost locked up my entire computer this week, presumably because of this... here's the story for that: I had setup unbound listening on 127.0.0.1:53 as the only DNS resolver for all network interfaces, so that I hijack several responses that I might want to (e.g. adnet sinkholes) and forward the rest to Google/Cloudflare over TL…

Edit: removed instructions to disable gatekeeper as sibling comment looks like a much better solution and writeup. I’m also curious if the self signed binaries in Big Sur fix this problem.

I'll test that out later today/tomorrow, thanks!

I guess the questions I'd have regarding this that I'd need to validate would be:

- Does this setting persist across reboots?

- Does it stop phoning-home altogether, or will it still phone-home, but always authorize regardless of answer?

- Is there a more granular way to disable just phoning-home, rather than nuking all of Gatekeeper? (Some of its things like disallowing access to personal files by default are still nice to have)

Will report back with an update after testing...

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#86

Post by laurent92 »

spurgu wrote: post #82
dschuessler wrote: post #69

To add some shortcuts that I use regularly but don't appear on the list: - Ctrl+Cmd+Space brings up a Unicode-Char-Picker - Shift+Alt+Cmd+V pastes from your clipboard without formatting from the source - Shift+Fn+Ctrl+Power shuts off the display

For shutting off the display (locking) I use Shift+Ctrl+Power (not Fn). Or are the two somehow different?

Ctrl+Cmd+Q = locks the screen, Cmd+Alt+Power = locks and sleep. It seems there are a lot of variations with slight details.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#87

Post by spurgu »

cawlin wrote: post #45
chime wrote: post #3

Author says Alfred is marginally better than Spotlight but I use it for so many different things. Doing quick math is a very common function for me. My favorite hidden trick is cmd+L which displays the typed text in HUGE fonts, so someone across the room can read it.

My most used Alfred things beyond launching apps/files: * Clipboard history (screenshots on clipboard in the history is extra useful) * Snippets using the date placeholders {datetime:short} for various file naming and email workflows * Snippet shortcuts for things I always forget like the shortcut for → and ™ or my zoom meeting link that I paste into meeting invites * Launching simple shell scripts by keyword * Workf…

My man! I don't have much to add, your post mostly echoes what I do.

>* Clipboard history (screenshots on clipboard in the history is extra useful)

Indeed! As I mentioned elsewhere I've reversed the keyboard mappings for screenshots so that Shift+Cmd+4 copies to clipboard and Shift+Ctrl+Cmd+4 creates a file. Then I manage the images through the clipboard.

>* Snippets using the date placeholders {datetime:short} for various file naming and email workflows

>* Snippet shortcuts for things I always forget like the shortcut for → and ™ or my zoom meeting link that I paste into meeting invites

Yes, snippets are invaluable! I have tons of different ones, everything from various API keys, adding user accounts with SSH pubkey on Linux (while checking that password auth is off), outputting an ASCII guitar fretboard, setting up servers with nginx/php/mysql from scratch etc... Haven't actually looked into placeholders though, looks potentially useful although I can't think of a particular use case off the bat.

And everything synced through Dropbox of course.

>* Launching simple shell scripts by keyword

Yes! For example I often run "slack active" and "slack away".

>* Workflow for opening Jira tickets in my browser quickly

I do this as well! " " opens them up directly in the browser that I use for work, i.e. "ticket 123" opens /browse/TICKET-123. Super convenient.

And for amusement I've created a couple of workflows to play different sounds, for dramatic and/or comedic effect.

And another workflow creates a new subdomain for a specific domain in Cloudflare.

Alfred is one of the main things that keep me from switching back to Linux.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#88

Post by lunixbochs »

luizfelberti wrote: post #85
lunixbochs wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: removed instructions to disable gatekeeper as sibling comment looks like a much better solution and writeup. I’m also curious if the self signed binaries in Big Sur fix this problem.

I'll test that out later today/tomorrow, thanks! I guess the questions I'd have regarding this that I'd need to validate would be: - Does this setting persist across reboots? - Does it stop phoning-home altogether, or will it still phone-home, but always authorize regardless of answer? - Is there a more granular way to disable just phoning-home, rather than nuking all of Gatekeeper? (Some of its things like disallowi…

I think tcc is separate from gatekeeper, so the granular permissions should still work.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#89

Post by spurgu »

trishume wrote: post #7
chime wrote: post #3

Author says Alfred is marginally better than Spotlight but I use it for so many different things. Doing quick math is a very common function for me. My favorite hidden trick is cmd+L which displays the typed text in HUGE fonts, so someone across the room can read it.

Yah it's perpetually on my todo list to learn to use Alfred for more things, like using its built in file browsing more. It would be nice to have Alfred workflows set up for more things like switching Chrome tabs and Discord channels. I do use it a ton for launching apps and quick calculations, but Spotlight can do that with a bit less polish.

Once you start using the snippets and clipboard history there's no going back...

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#90

Post by beagle3 »

catmistake wrote: post #75

I recommend macports package management system, similar in function to BSD ports collection. Superior to Homebrew, the johnny-come-lately PMS with all the penguinista-style hype that seems to lean towards binary installs, unlike roll your own from all source in macports. Homebrew also does not honor the default privileges of /usr/local, which is an annoying security flaw.

Or Joyent's "pkgsrc" system, which is also mostly ports-like, works on just about every posixy OS these days (including Linux, NetBSD, Cugwin and more).

Capable of installing both source and binaries. Works well in my experience.

(No experience with MacPorts so I can't compare; but coming from Linux/apt I didn't feel much was missing, just a little different)

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