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As someone who actually signs, notorizes and distributes desktop apps for macOS, I can safely say their documentation is less than ideal.

Maybe because I'm using Electron framework which makes things more complicated, but I don't really understand why there's is a difference between different types of certificates (Developer ID, Apple distribution, macOS distribution) and I had to guess which one to use everytime I set it up.

Also why is notorization a completely different process from code signing, and requires completely different set of credentials from it. Seems odd to me.



> Also why is notorization a completely different process from code signing

Because they do completely different things. Signing is a proof that you were the one to write and package that software; notarisation is an online security check for malware. If I recall, you still sign but do not notarise when distributing to the Mac App Store.


Ok, so the certificate used to sign the package is generated by Apple, why can't I just use that to prove my identity for notarization?

Or maybe simpler, why can't Apple just do code sign and notarization with one single cli call, with one set of credentials?

Google Play does this under the hook, I don't even think about it. iOS is similar, Transponder app does everything in one go.




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