SD Notary - doesn't enable applet to send events

[Garry]

I’m having difficulty with SD Notary 1.4.8 with two issues:

• First is that applets that are signed and notarized cannot send Apple events. I have done this twice and made sure the “Can send Apple events” tick box is ticked. When I try to run the signed and notarized applet I get this:
  

I have checked permissions in System Prefs and all Automation permissions for the applet are ticked. I do not have this problem with the applet before signing and notarizing.

• Second issue is that SD Notary hangs when I try to select “About SD Notary”. I have to force quit to close SD Notary.

I’m running SD Notary on a late 2009 iMac running a patched macOS 10.15.7 and Script Debugger 7.0.13.

I’ve checked the Entitlements.plist and Submission Log. Both look fine to me. The submission log says at one point:

Entitlements: {
“com.apple.security.automation.apple-events” = 1;
“com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation” = 1;
{

The info.plist file of the failed applet has this:

<key>NSAppleEventsUsageDescription
<string>This script needs to control other applications to run.

I found a copy of v1.4.7 which worked for me back in June 2021. Using it now, however, I’ve had the same two problems. Same with versions 1.4.2 and 1.4.1. I tried v1.3.0 but got a “Application has Expired” message.

Perhaps I’ve done something different in my use of “System Events” since June. But, I don’t understand enough to know why the applet would fail only after code signing and notarizing.

[ShaneStanley]

The only change between 1.4.7 and 1.4.8 was to deal with a timing issue that could also cause issues like this:

SD Notary: "No UUID returned" but Apple notarizes app anyway

This sometimes occurs when I submit an AppleScript app with SD Notary: After the upload is complete and some time has passed, SD Notary reports that no UUID was returned by Apple. But a short time later, I get an e-mail telling me that the application was successfully notarized. At this point, I once tried the “Staple Only” option in SD Notary, but it couldn’t staple the original app, and it seems to have deleted the copy that it submitted - there was no Submitted folder, only a Working folder…

That won’t affect how apps are signed or notarized in any way.

As you’re using a patched version of macOS, it may be something like being compiled against a newer SDK. Here’s a link to 1.4.7:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/latenightsw.com/SDNotary1.4.7-56.zip

[Garry]

Shane, thanks.

After much mucking around I have been able to use SDN 1.4.8 (Build 61) for my applet on an old Mac laptop running patched Mojave. The resulting signed app works on that old laptop. So, I copied it to my main iMac and opened it. I got the same error “Not authorised to send Apple events”.

Also, on the old laptop, SDN is not hanging when I choose File=>About SD Notary.

And, the copy of my applet originally run with SDN on my iMac works perfectly on the old laptop.

I think this suggests there is something amiss with my Catalina install. I had to run a bespoke tool to enable security updates to install. With SIP turned off etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if the patching has caused the problem. Perhaps, also, there is a mess in the Automation permissions. I’ll try resetting Automation permissions.

Cheers.