bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Artyom Loenko via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

Hello there,

Apple has updated requirements related to privacy on macOS Catalina. Now we have to specify usage descriptions for the following items to be able to access these folders and volumes:

- NSDesktopFolderUsageDescription;
- NSDocumentsFolderUsageDescription;
- NSDownloadsFolderUsageDescription;
- NSRemovableVolumesUsageDescription.

(https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/information_property_list/)

Otherwise, it is impossible to work with files in these folders (especially, when Desktop and Documents are synchronised with iCloud). Full Disk Access permission does not help in this case. The only workaround right now is to run Emacs from Terminal.app to inherit Terminal.app permissions.

P.S. There is a simple script that simulates the same behaviour if you want to check how it works: https://gist.github.com/dive/f64c645a9086afce8e5dd2590071dbf9

This is a simple patch to fix it (these changes are backwards compatible, and previous macOS versions ignore these values.):

—————

 nextstep/templates/Info.plist.in | 8 ++++++++
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/nextstep/templates/Info.plist.in b/nextstep/templates/Info.plist.in
index c1e50a8409..70f641cc99 100644
--- a/nextstep/templates/Info.plist.in
+++ b/nextstep/templates/Info.plist.in
@@ -677,5 +677,13 @@ along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 	<string>YES</string>
         <key>NSAppleEventsUsageDescription</key>
         <string>Emacs requires permission to send AppleEvents to other applications.</string>
+	<key>NSDesktopFolderUsageDescription</key>
+	<string>Emacs requires permission to access the Desktop folder.</string>
+	<key>NSDocumentsFolderUsageDescription</key>
+	<string>Emacs requires permission to access the Documents folder.</string>
+	<key>NSDownloadsFolderUsageDescription</key>
+	<string>Emacs requires permission to access the Downloads folder.</string>
+	<key>NSRemovableVolumesUsageDescription</key>
+	<string>Emacs requires permission to access files on Removable Volumes.</string>
 </dict>
 </plist>

—————

--
Artem

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Alan Third]

On Sun, Sep 29, 2019 at 11:21:05AM +0100, Artyom Loenko via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors wrote:
> Hello there,
> 
> Apple has updated requirements related to privacy on macOS Catalina.
> Now we have to specify usage descriptions for the following items to
> be able to access these folders and volumes:
> 
> - NSDesktopFolderUsageDescription;
> - NSDocumentsFolderUsageDescription;
> - NSDownloadsFolderUsageDescription;
> - NSRemovableVolumesUsageDescription.
> 
> (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/information_property_list/)
> 
> Otherwise, it is impossible to work with files in these folders
> (especially, when Desktop and Documents are synchronised with
> iCloud). Full Disk Access permission does not help in this case. The
> only workaround right now is to run Emacs from Terminal.app to
> inherit Terminal.app permissions.

Thanks for this.

I certainly confirm that the changes don’t break Emacs on macOS 10.14,
but not much else. :)

Artem, have you ever contributed to Emacs before? If so have you
signed the copyright assignment paperwork?

-- 
Alan Third

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2019 17:48:59 +0100
> From: Alan Third <alan@idiocy.org>
> Cc: 37551@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Artem, have you ever contributed to Emacs before? If so have you
> signed the copyright assignment paperwork?

While I'd certainly encourage Artyom to start the legal paperwork
rolling, we don't have to wait to its completion to accept that
particular contribution, as it is small enough to not require
copyright assignment.  I don't see Artyom's name in our Git log, so
this must be hist first contribution.

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Alan Third]

On Sat, Oct 05, 2019 at 09:48:53PM +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2019 17:48:59 +0100
> > From: Alan Third <alan@idiocy.org>
> > Cc: 37551@debbugs.gnu.org
> > 
> > Artem, have you ever contributed to Emacs before? If so have you
> > signed the copyright assignment paperwork?
> 
> While I'd certainly encourage Artyom to start the legal paperwork
> rolling, we don't have to wait to its completion to accept that
> particular contribution, as it is small enough to not require
> copyright assignment.  I don't see Artyom's name in our Git log, so
> this must be hist first contribution.

I thought it prudent to check first. I’ll just push it now.

Thanks.
-- 
Alan Third

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2019 22:33:36 +0100
> From: Alan Third <alan@idiocy.org>
> Cc: artyom.loenko@mac.com, 37551@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > While I'd certainly encourage Artyom to start the legal paperwork
> > rolling, we don't have to wait to its completion to accept that
> > particular contribution, as it is small enough to not require
> > copyright assignment.  I don't see Artyom's name in our Git log, so
> > this must be hist first contribution.
> 
> I thought it prudent to check first.

It was.  I wanted to answer that question.

> I’ll just push it now.

Thanks.

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Artyom Loenko via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

Hello there,

> Artem, have you ever contributed to Emacs before? If so have you
> signed the copyright assignment paperwork?

I did not. Can you point in the right direction for the copyright assignment? I see the following page https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Copyright-Assignment.html, but it is unclear how to request these papers.

—
Artem Loenko

bug#37551: [PATCH]: Update privacy usage descriptions for macOS 10.15 Catalina (nextstep)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Artyom Loenko <artyom.loenko@mac.com>
> Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2019 15:35:30 +0100
> Cc: 37551@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > Artem, have you ever contributed to Emacs before? If so have you
> > signed the copyright assignment paperwork?
> 
> I did not. Can you point in the right direction for the copyright assignment? I see the following page https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Copyright-Assignment.html, but it is unclear how to request these papers.

Form sent off-list.