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To play devil's advocate, steps 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all fairly standard behavior for a Mac app that is installed "for all users on this system". https://deve
by mark242 10y ago
To play devil's advocate, steps 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all fairly standard behavior for a Mac app that is installed "for all users on this system".
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/samplecode/SMJobBless/Listings/ReadMe_txt.html https://developer.apple.com/library/content/samplecode/SMJob...
Step 2 and 7 are fairly standard behavior for an application that is meant to be running at all times, eg a persistent chat app. Even something like GPG installs files into /Library/LaunchAgents. The location of the directories in question shouldn't set off a warning flag about whether an app is "shady" or not.
- cgijoe 10y agoI accept your devil's advocacy, but I would argue that the app should have simply asked permission before doing these things, especially installing itself as a startup item and adding a Finder favorite. Also, if the app is going to install things as an administrator, it should tell the user exactly what it plans to do. Just my $0.02. I know that Keybase the company is not shady, but their chat app sure feels off to me.
- rrdharan 10y agoNote that the app does ask for permission before installing the helper, i.e. via the standard macOS elevation prompt; agreed though that it doesn't actually explain what the helper is for or what it will do.