8 ms·

On MacOS it requires admin privilege to install. I am done with that after all the crap that previous software with admin rights installed. I cleaned it up and

On MacOS it requires admin privilege to install. I am done with that after all the crap that previous software with admin rights installed. I cleaned it up and swore I would not install anything that required admin rights again - for my own security and peace of mind. What does it need admin rights for?

mrpippy 7y ago
Maybe to install an autoupdater?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- alpb 7y ago
  It doesn't use a TUF-like update protocol that Chrome uses?
  - trishankkarthik 7y ago
    Last I checked, Chrome uses CUP, which is more like TLS than TUF
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ajacksified 7y ago
I was going to install it to try it out, but this was the dealbreaker for me.
lucasverra 7y ago
also requires 10.12 or above
crazygringo 7y ago
Seriously, that bugs the hell out of me too. Why do I need to give Adobe admin rights to install Photoshop? Why do I need to give Microsoft the same to install Word? And now for a web browser? If I'm installing something low-level like a window manager or a keyboard shortcut tool, I get it. But for a normal mainstream flagship consumer application, what on earth do they need admin privileges for?! I hate the fact I have to hand over the keys to my computer just to run basic industry standard software and I have no choice because it's industry standard and I have requirements to use it.
- techntoke 7y ago
  So that it can be used my multiple users. There are ways to install as a user without admin privileges.
- tsimionescu 7y ago
  Well, there is an extremely simple reason: because these tools are installed for all users, not just your own. Doing it any other way would be wasteful on an actual multi-user machine. But some tools do support it - both Chrome and Firefox can be installed without admin privileges. There is also the fact that Office and many other products rely on demons starting at boot time, which can only be installed with admin rights. The same applies to all popular Linux distributions (even more than on Windows, since you can provide a nice current-user only installer on Windows, but any common program package on Linux requires admin rights before you can even access it). On the other hand, for most people this admin vs regular user separation is almost meaningless and provides little extra security. Sure, if I install malware as admin it will be harder to get rid of it, but except for that, it can hurt me just as much, since all of the files I really care about (documents, photos, game saves etc) are already accessible with my user, and any program running as my user can already connect to the internet and send information about what my user is doing (not to mention bother me with ads). Some of the really damaging ransomware that recently made the rounds didn't even require admin privileges, it simply encrypted data in some common user-owned folders, if I'm not mistaken (it probably did need some privilege escalation to spread, though, which is a big problem on office networks).
  - contextfree 7y ago
    "Doing it any other way would be wasteful on an actual multi-user machine." On Windows at least, UWP apps are deduplicated across all users on the same system so when user #2 installs the same app already installed by user #1, it will just point to the same existing shared instance of the app's files. I don't know much about MacOS but I'd guess there's a similar packaging system. These systems also incorporate sandboxes which address the other problems you mentioned in your last paragraph. The problem is just when the OS teams can't convince other developers (even ones inside the same company in Microsoft's case) to actually use their packaging and sandbox systems.
eyelidlessness 7y ago
You can inspect (and extract) it with Pacifist[1] without using admin privileges. [1] https://www.charlessoft.com/ https://www.charlessoft.com/
bonaldi 7y ago
Do "Show Files" in the Installer app's menubar and it'll show you everything it's installing. In this case, it's installing Edge and the universal Microsoft AutoUpdater app. Given the range of stuff that thing has to support (including all the Office apps) and the privs it will need to run at to do so, I think the admin requirement is not entirely unreasonable.
- mrpippy 7y ago
  Ah, well at least it's using Microsoft's pre-existing AutoUpdater (the same one used by Office if you don't get it from the App Store)
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- altitudinous 7y ago
  If Office 365 can use the Apple updater, so can Edge. Or they can do whatever Chrome does, it doesn't require admin rights. I don't think Microsoft can talk about secure and private and then require admin to install their software. It is archaic.

mrpippy 7y ago

Maybe to install an autoupdater?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
alpb 7y ago
It doesn't use a TUF-like update protocol that Chrome uses?
- trishankkarthik 7y ago
  Last I checked, Chrome uses CUP, which is more like TLS than TUF

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ajacksified 7y ago

I was going to install it to try it out, but this was the dealbreaker for me.

lucasverra 7y ago

also requires 10.12 or above

crazygringo 7y ago

Seriously, that bugs the hell out of me too. Why do I need to give Adobe admin rights to install Photoshop? Why do I need to give Microsoft the same to install Word? And now for a web browser? If I'm installing something low-level like a window manager or a keyboard shortcut tool, I get it. But for a normal mainstream flagship consumer application, what on earth do they need admin privileges for?! I hate the fact I have to hand over the keys to my computer just to run basic industry standard software and I have no choice because it's industry standard and I have requirements to use it.

techntoke 7y ago
So that it can be used my multiple users. There are ways to install as a user without admin privileges.
tsimionescu 7y ago
Well, there is an extremely simple reason: because these tools are installed for all users, not just your own. Doing it any other way would be wasteful on an actual multi-user machine. But some tools do support it - both Chrome and Firefox can be installed without admin privileges. There is also the fact that Office and many other products rely on demons starting at boot time, which can only be installed with admin rights. The same applies to all popular Linux distributions (even more than on Windows, since you can provide a nice current-user only installer on Windows, but any common program package on Linux requires admin rights before you can even access it). On the other hand, for most people this admin vs regular user separation is almost meaningless and provides little extra security. Sure, if I install malware as admin it will be harder to get rid of it, but except for that, it can hurt me just as much, since all of the files I really care about (documents, photos, game saves etc) are already accessible with my user, and any program running as my user can already connect to the internet and send information about what my user is doing (not to mention bother me with ads). Some of the really damaging ransomware that recently made the rounds didn't even require admin privileges, it simply encrypted data in some common user-owned folders, if I'm not mistaken (it probably did need some privilege escalation to spread, though, which is a big problem on office networks).
- contextfree 7y ago
  "Doing it any other way would be wasteful on an actual multi-user machine." On Windows at least, UWP apps are deduplicated across all users on the same system so when user #2 installs the same app already installed by user #1, it will just point to the same existing shared instance of the app's files. I don't know much about MacOS but I'd guess there's a similar packaging system. These systems also incorporate sandboxes which address the other problems you mentioned in your last paragraph. The problem is just when the OS teams can't convince other developers (even ones inside the same company in Microsoft's case) to actually use their packaging and sandbox systems.

eyelidlessness 7y ago

You can inspect (and extract) it with Pacifist[1] without using admin privileges. [1] https://www.charlessoft.com/ https://www.charlessoft.com/

bonaldi 7y ago

Do "Show Files" in the Installer app's menubar and it'll show you everything it's installing. In this case, it's installing Edge and the universal Microsoft AutoUpdater app. Given the range of stuff that thing has to support (including all the Office apps) and the privs it will need to run at to do so, I think the admin requirement is not entirely unreasonable.

mrpippy 7y ago
Ah, well at least it's using Microsoft's pre-existing AutoUpdater (the same one used by Office if you don't get it from the App Store)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
altitudinous 7y ago
If Office 365 can use the Apple updater, so can Edge. Or they can do whatever Chrome does, it doesn't require admin rights. I don't think Microsoft can talk about secure and private and then require admin to install their software. It is archaic.