Dianne Sawyer – Indie Spark

The Story behind News Anchor

Finally News Anchor 1.0 is released – those of you who subscribes to my Facebook profile probably already know by now ^_^ News Anchor is an alternative news reader (RSS/ATOM feed client) for Mac OS X. It is a universal binary application designed to run on Leopard and Snow Leopard. The rest of this article…

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How to Get Started with FMDB using Swift

My latest guest post for Waldo shows you how to use SQLite databases using Swift through Gus Muller’s FMDB library. Head to Waldo for the article: Getting Started with FMDB and Swift: A Guide.

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SwiftUI vs. Storyboard: Which Is the Best?

Comparing SwiftUI with storyboards for iOS development - which one is better when.

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How to Create an App ID

Check out my latest guest post at Waldo: How to Create an iOS App ID: 2 Quick and Easy Methods. You will learn: What an App ID is in Apple’s ecosystems. How to create App IDs. What is an App Store ID and how it relates to an App ID. How to find an App…

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How to Configure Developer ID Signing in Xcode Bot

By default, Xcode Server signs binaries using a development certificate, not a distribution one. Unfortunately there is no built-in option to make it use a Developer ID certificate. What's the solution?

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Introducing macOS Notarization Automation Book

Notarization is a fully automated process, unlike going through the App Store which involves manual human review. At least it's automated in Apple's side. However it could consume a non-negligible amount of brain bandwidth in your side. How about automating it?

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How to Setup Xcode 13 Server for macOS Development

Continuous testing is paramount to ship serous software. Yet continuously running tests is a pensive productivity plight. Is it possible to automate testing? Yes you can.

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What’s New with Xcode 13 Notarization

Xcode 13 brought a new notarization tool. What is it and how much better compared to the old one?

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How to Parse Notarization Tool Output

“I want a REST API for notarization since it’s impossible to parse text coming from the notarization tool reliably.” What if I say that the command line API is the best method for integration with build pipelines? Read on to find out more.

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How to Automate macOS Application Notarization

Notarization may take just a few clicks in Xcode, but this takes time and a security risk. You include notarization as part of your continuous delivery pipeline. Here's how.

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What can be Notarized for Developer ID Distribution?

Distributing binaries for macOS outside the App Store requires registering it with Apple beforehand—notarizing it. But do you know what can be submitted for notarization?

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Python Pillow’s Denial of Service Vulnerability

A popular image processing library has a vulnerability that can cause denial of service by a maliciously-crafted file causing the application to consume too much memory. Should you upgrade or is there another solution?

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How to Securely Provide Apple ID Password into Notarization Build Jobs

Including passwords into the source tree is a big security breach. Similarly including passwords into build jobs would be insecure. Learn how to securely provide Apple ID credentials into notarization jobs.

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How to Transfer Applications for App Store Small Business Program Members

The App Store Small Business Program offers lowered commission cost with one big caveat: no app transfer. But apps graduating from a "hobby" into a "small business" would definitely involve transferring ownership. Read how to transfer apps without engaging in the app transfer process and losing out on the program's benefits.

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How to Detect Apple Silicon and Rosetta from within a Shell Script

Compiled code can conclude the instruction set through conditional compilation. But what about processor-independent scripts? Finding out the current native processor architecture and emulation status thereof would be very useful in build systems that doesn't support cross-compilations. Find out how a shell script can find out whether it is running under Apple's processor, Intel, or emulated.

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How to Run Legacy Command Line Apps on Apple Silicon

Being in the "bleeding edge" has its drawbacks in addition to benefits. Blazing a fresh trail means it's more rough and plenty of unknowns. Similarly in open source software, support for the ARM architecture is slim and even slimmer on the Mac. But there is a way to run "legacy" Intel-only command line apps on the Mac.

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Back to the Mac: How to Notarize Disk Images for Distribution Outside the Mac App Store

Distributing macOS apps as ZIP archives has been quaint since Sierra. Today’s macOS packaging requirements mandates notarization, otherwise it would say that your app is suspicious. This often means distributing apps within disk images since this container format can be signed, notarized, and stapled.

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How to Pass App Store Review: Guideline 4.3 Spam

Publishing similar apps is considered spamming. Yet there are valid reasons to develop multiple apps from the same code base. Here is what you need to know to avoid being labeled as spammer by app reviewers.

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Look-Alike Apps are Considered Spam by App Review

Some developers' app updates were rejected from the App Store because their apps look similar. Worse, some others were marked as spammer due to publishing apps that looks like another developer's app. How can you avoid this?

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