[tor-bugs] #32039 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Tor Browser 8.5.5 is not working on macOS 10.15 after being freshly installed on macOS 10.15

Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki blackhole at torproject.org
Tue Oct 15 14:32:02 UTC 2019


#32039: Tor Browser 8.5.5 is not working on macOS 10.15 after being freshly
installed on macOS 10.15
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 Reporter:  gk                        |          Owner:  tbb-team
     Type:  defect                    |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Very High                 |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/Tor Browser  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                    |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  TorBrowserTeam201910      |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                            |         Points:
 Reviewer:                            |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by mcs):

 I went through a bunch of scenarios this morning and could not reproduce
 the problems that have been reported. I also tried resetting the macOS
 gatekeeper settings to their defaults and testing again to make sure old
 settings were not present that were granting privileges that allowed 8.5.5
 to work on my test system. (side note: I am not sure how to verify that
 everything was reset.)

 But now I wonder if people are doing something different than I did, such
 as copying TB into /Applications but sometimes running an ESR60-based Tor
 Browser and sometimes an ESR68-based one? Problems will occur if you
 downgrade and run an ESR60-based browser with an ESR68-based profile; when
 I did that once by accident I saw that Torbutton was not present after
 starting TB 8.5.5.

 Here are my detailed notes:

 Scenario 1: Installed TB 8.5.5 into a new folder on the desktop.
 * Answered prompt: "Tor Browser is an app downloaded from the Internet.
 Are you sure you want to open it?"
 * Browser started up and worked correctly.

 Scenario 2: Installed TB 8.5.5 into /Applications.
 * Same steps and results as for scenario 1.

 Scenario 3: Installed TB 9.0a4 into a new folder on the desktop.
 * Saw error alert: "Tor Browser can't be opened because Apple cannot check
 it for malicious software."
 * Used `Ctrl-Click|Open` to override the block.
 * Browser started up and worked correctly.
 * Used the built-in updater to update to TB 9.0a7.
 * Browser started up and worked correctly.

 Scenario 4: Installed TB 9.0a4 into /Applications.
 * Same steps and results as for scenario 3.

 I then did the following and then re-tested all four scenarios:
 * `sudo spctl --reset-default`
 * `sudo reboot`
 * `rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/TorBrowser-Data`

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/32039#comment:2>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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