7 ms·

Mothership Down: Apple bug halts the production of development certificates.

52 points by jbm 15y ago

thetron 15y ago
Does anyone have any insight into this problem at all?
nixle 15y ago
Man, do I hate that ridiculously complicated certificate system. I wonder how many first-timers don't recognize this as a bug and in frustration think "This is ridiculous, let me try again tomorrow".
- wukkuan 15y ago
  I'm not a first timer, but I recently signed up for a developer account and went to set it up last night. I spent a few hours getting angry and trying everything I knew to make it work, until I went to the Apple Dev forums and saw a post about it. It's so complicated that I couldn't tell if it was broken or if I was doing something wrong.
- seclorum 15y ago
  It has gotten a little bit easier with the XCode4 Developer console, but yeah .. the certification process is one hell of a way to weed out the truly devoted from the casual.
- api 15y ago
  Have fun with your jailed platforms.
- Aqua_Geek 15y ago
  You think it's bad now, it was awful when it started out. There was little to no documentation, so getting an app on a device generally entailed clicking random buttons for a few hours until things somehow worked.
0x0 15y ago
Last year, over a period of a few days, the certificates generated on developer.apple.com suddenly had an expiration date set to the year 2079. Usually the certs only last for 6-12 months. Too bad the certs are also locked to a set of device IDs... or we could have had unlimited code signing ability forever ;) [or until a revoke push]
umrashrf 15y ago
Ask Anonymous to put down these crappy systems for life
- jmilkbal 15y ago
  Aye. What mothership? I'm not a fucking slave to the retardation that is this entire company. They regularly show they can't manage anything properly.
  - sneak 15y ago
    They seem to be managing revenues and their share price just fine.
- spwmoni 15y ago
  I'm sorry, you seem to have this site confused with Script Kiddy News.
gm 15y ago
Only fitting that in that thread there is not a single reply from Apple.
- jws 15y ago
  It is only 14 hours old, started on a Sunday evening in a user generated content community forum. It's 6am in Apple land, I'm sure some employee is about to get a surprise.
  - gm 15y ago
    I think the answer is more along the lines of seclorum's reply. Ops people in self-respecting companies are always watching.
- seclorum 15y ago
  Apple rarely, if ever, reply to catastrophic bug reports like this. Its part of their policy not to acknowledge problems until they're ready to fix them.
AznHisoka 15y ago
I wish deployment to the iPhone would be as easy as to the Android. Why mess around with deployment certificates in the first place?
- gravitronic 15y ago
  Release android APK files are also signed.
  - vetinari 15y ago
    Yes, apks are also signed, but the key generation is up to you. It's no problem to use self generated keys, it just has to be the same key across different versions of the same app.
Karunamon 15y ago
Wow. This thread is bringing out the ABA trolls in full force. For those that don't get it: Guys. Code signing is a good thing. It prevents code being screwed with by a malicious third party or some form of malware before it ends up on your device. Apple's implementation on the generation side leaves a lot to be desired, admittedly, but the concept is sound. You'd best get used to it now. You're only going to see it more and more as time goes on - and not just on "jailed platforms".
- sneak 15y ago
  Obligatory rms "Can You Trust Your Computer?": http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html
  - st3fan 15y ago
    RMS uses a laptop with a Chinese CPU right?
    - Karunamon 15y ago
      Indeed he does. Everything down to the BIOS is FOSS. Apparently worrying about hardware inbuilt backdoors is a level of paranoia too high even for Stallman.
- tylermenezes 15y ago
  Many things are a good thing when you have competition. One company who acts as the sole gatekeeper is a bad idea, and this is just another example of why.
  - Karunamon 15y ago
    Your problem is with PKI then - someone who has some measure of authority has to sign the certs.
feralchimp 15y ago
Well that's a bummer. RDARs have been filed. Actions will be taken. The mothership will come back up. Haters will still hate code signing and provisioning profiles.

52 points by jbm 15y ago

Does anyone have any insight into this problem at all?

nixle 15y ago

Man, do I hate that ridiculously complicated certificate system. I wonder how many first-timers don't recognize this as a bug and in frustration think "This is ridiculous, let me try again tomorrow".

wukkuan 15y ago
I'm not a first timer, but I recently signed up for a developer account and went to set it up last night. I spent a few hours getting angry and trying everything I knew to make it work, until I went to the Apple Dev forums and saw a post about it. It's so complicated that I couldn't tell if it was broken or if I was doing something wrong.
seclorum 15y ago
It has gotten a little bit easier with the XCode4 Developer console, but yeah .. the certification process is one hell of a way to weed out the truly devoted from the casual.
api 15y ago
Have fun with your jailed platforms.
Aqua_Geek 15y ago
You think it's bad now, it was awful when it started out. There was little to no documentation, so getting an app on a device generally entailed clicking random buttons for a few hours until things somehow worked.

0x0 15y ago

Last year, over a period of a few days, the certificates generated on developer.apple.com suddenly had an expiration date set to the year 2079. Usually the certs only last for 6-12 months. Too bad the certs are also locked to a set of device IDs... or we could have had unlimited code signing ability forever ;) [or until a revoke push]

umrashrf 15y ago

Ask Anonymous to put down these crappy systems for life

jmilkbal 15y ago
Aye. What mothership? I'm not a fucking slave to the retardation that is this entire company. They regularly show they can't manage anything properly.
- sneak 15y ago
  They seem to be managing revenues and their share price just fine.
spwmoni 15y ago
I'm sorry, you seem to have this site confused with Script Kiddy News.

gm 15y ago

Only fitting that in that thread there is not a single reply from Apple.

jws 15y ago
It is only 14 hours old, started on a Sunday evening in a user generated content community forum. It's 6am in Apple land, I'm sure some employee is about to get a surprise.
- gm 15y ago
  I think the answer is more along the lines of seclorum's reply. Ops people in self-respecting companies are always watching.
seclorum 15y ago
Apple rarely, if ever, reply to catastrophic bug reports like this. Its part of their policy not to acknowledge problems until they're ready to fix them.

AznHisoka 15y ago

I wish deployment to the iPhone would be as easy as to the Android. Why mess around with deployment certificates in the first place?

gravitronic 15y ago
Release android APK files are also signed.
- vetinari 15y ago
  Yes, apks are also signed, but the key generation is up to you. It's no problem to use self generated keys, it just has to be the same key across different versions of the same app.

Karunamon 15y ago

Wow. This thread is bringing out the ABA trolls in full force. For those that don't get it: Guys. Code signing is a good thing. It prevents code being screwed with by a malicious third party or some form of malware before it ends up on your device. Apple's implementation on the generation side leaves a lot to be desired, admittedly, but the concept is sound. You'd best get used to it now. You're only going to see it more and more as time goes on - and not just on "jailed platforms".

sneak 15y ago
Obligatory rms "Can You Trust Your Computer?": http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html
- st3fan 15y ago
  RMS uses a laptop with a Chinese CPU right?
  - Karunamon 15y ago
    Indeed he does. Everything down to the BIOS is FOSS. Apparently worrying about hardware inbuilt backdoors is a level of paranoia too high even for Stallman.
tylermenezes 15y ago
Many things are a good thing when you have competition. One company who acts as the sole gatekeeper is a bad idea, and this is just another example of why.
- Karunamon 15y ago
  Your problem is with PKI then - someone who has some measure of authority has to sign the certs.

feralchimp 15y ago

Well that's a bummer. RDARs have been filed. Actions will be taken. The mothership will come back up. Haters will still hate code signing and provisioning profiles.