I'll have to admit that when Apple announced to actually remove all 32 bit support in macOS 10.15 I did not fully come to terms with what it would entail. I thought that for us as plug-in authors a broad base of available host applications would remain targetable. Little did I know.
Naively I thought PS CS5 was the first 64 bit version on the Mac, PSE 12 was the first 64 bit executable from the PS Elements range. So, CS5 / CS6 and all versions of CC (those that users may still legally use, anyway) and PSE 12, 13, 14, 15, 2018, 2019 seemed plenty.
Now that we have looked at this in more detail none will work. Wow... All used 32 bit installers / uninstallers and depend on 32 bit components. So, for modern Macs all legacy hosts will be gone, period. Unless Apple chickens out at last minute which is unlikely.
PS CC will be updated to work before the final release of macOS 10.15 I take it, PSE will be made compatible with the next version (maybe dubbed 2020 if the naming scheme is kept). That is according to this https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/elements-mac-64bit-compatibility.html (The wording used is hilarious “The 64-bit version of Elements is due to release in fall, 2019”, right what was PSE 12 et al. again, ah mostly 64-bits, right...).
Question 1: Will there be an updated version of the Adobe Photoshop SDK?
The last publication was dubbed Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 SDK. It had the typical section of “New for Creative Cloud - CC 2017 - Photoshop 18.0” in the documentation etc. After that silence. No release and or news for Photoshop 19.0? None for PS 20.0? Will there finally be a new SDK for PS 21.0? No comments prior to release I'd bet... One thing I notice is that while there are a lot of PS CC SDKs for download all versions of PS they are for have been deemed “illegal to use” and their availability via Creative Cloud has been terminated. (https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/05/13/adobe-warning-of-legal-problems-if-users-keep-using-old-v...). So, technically the last version of PS with a designated SDK that can be used by devs and users is CS6 (if it was purchased, rentals again terminated it seems).
Question 2: Any details on the notarization process required by Apple for PS Plug-ins?
We don’t fully comprehend what this will mean yet. There was an incident with an already more or less macOS 10.15 compatible third party host application that has us worried. Upon calling the 64 bit plug-in from within a 64-bit app there was a message "[plugin] can't be opened because it's integrity cannot be verified" and the system refused to run it.
There is a work around we found but that is way too involved for productive use. On a terminal the user can call `sudo spctl --master-disable` run the plug-in once and then call `sudo spctl --master-enable` to turn the default security measures back on and things will work thereafter. The typical go to finder and use context menu “open” to add an exception for an unsigned executable won’t be available for plug-ins for obvious reasons.
So that seems to point to Apple’s notarization requirements.
Below is what I pulled together on it, any comments by anyone?
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/notarizing_your_app_before_distribution
“When you enable the extra security enforced by the hardened runtime, as notarization requires, this impacts both your app and any plug-ins that your app hosts. Plug-ins don’t declare their own entitlements. Instead, they inherit the entitlements of the host process. Therefore, a host app must include all the entitlements that prospective plug-ins require, even when the plug-ins are notarized separately.”
So, does that mean Photoshop and PSE will have to take care of this and the plug-in may stay unsigned and not notarized? If that is true it seems Adobe must add the com.apple.security.get-task-allow entitlement to allow any kind of debugging and in order to be allowed to do so in the notarization process also the com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation entitlement.
I read that out of these:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/notarizing_your_app_before_distribution/resolving...
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/entitlements/com_apple_security_cs_disable...
“To enable debugging a plug-in in the context of a host executable, the host can include the com.apple.security.get-task-allow entitlement if it also includes the Disable Library Validation Entitlement. Don’t disable library validation for executables that don’t host plug-ins because library validation protects them from loading untrusted code.”
If I get that right a properly notarized host will thus cure our problems for now. WHo can tell what happens when they go for a stricter policy with a future version of the OS but that's for then to worry about. If I'm wrong... The notarization business seems to require X-Code 10, does anyone use that successfully with the Adobe Plug-in SDK? Any experience with this and PS plug-ins at all (e.g. using XC 10 to notarize an existing legacy plug-in which may or may nor be possible from what I read thus far).
Question 3: What do we (PS plug-in devs) know about upcoming problems and changes with macOS 10.15 Catalina and what can you (Adobe staff) provide us with that may help in the transition?
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