Trouble direct-distributing macOS app

Question

JetForMe OP

Created Aug ’24

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I don't know why we’re up to Xcode 16 and this stuff is still so damn difficult.

First of all, I don't know why I can't just send a .app I built for my M1 MacBook Pro to my friend who also has an M1 MacBook Pro. But even after going through the quarantine steps, he gets an alert saying the app can't be opened.

So I'm trying to do direct distribution of an archive. But that gives me two errors:

There is a problem with the request entity You already have a current Developer ID Application Managed (With Kext) certificate or a pending certificate request.

No profiles for 'com.latencyzero.VideoBox' were found Xcode couldn't find any Developer ID provisioning profiles matching 'com.latencyzero.VideoBox'.

The signing is managed by Xcode. CloudKit access works.

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Aug ’24

First of all, I don't know why I can't just send a .app I built for my M1 MacBook Pro to my friend who also has an M1 MacBook Pro

Based on the info later in your post, it sounds like your app is using a restricted entitlement, that is, one that must be authorised by a profile. When you use Apple Development signing, that profile is restricted to a limited set of machines. If you add your friend’s Mac to the device list in your developer account, they should be able to run it [1].

TN3125 Inside Code Signing: Provisioning Profiles has lots of backstory here.

I'm trying to do direct distribution of an archive.

It’s hard to say what’s going on here without more info. Which, in and of itself, suggests that this is worth filing a bug against Xcode. It should be surfacing actionable errors here.

If you do file a bug, please post the bug number, just for the record.

As to what you can do about this, the first thing I’d check is that your restricted entitlements are compatible with Developer ID distribution. There’s a table in Developer Account Help that lists most of them. If you’re using one that’s not listed there, use the technique from Finding a Capability’s Distribution Restrictions.

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[1] They’ll have to bypass Gatekeeper.

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