Saturday, November 11, 2017

Distributing Processing Apps for MacOS

Processing's ability to export a sketch to executable for Mac, Windows, and Linux is an amazing feature. But the MacOS Gatekeeper after Yosemite kneecapped this method of distribution for Mac users in Sierra and and later as the codesigning certificate implemented in Processing fails to extend to the developer's sketch, or something like that. So if you develop something in Processing and you want to distribute it without people having to open your sketch in Processing you must codesign your own app.
After some searching, I finally found out how. You have to have the paid $99/year Apple developer license, I don't think it works with the unpaid developer subscription. You get a cert in your dev account and download it to your computer, then find the exact name for the dev ID in your Keychain Access. There was something else you have to include, I believe the hash format of the ID, but I've forgotten and will update when I try this again.