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Weblog Archive Cutedge

by: Bernard Teo








Creative Commons License

Copyright © 2003-2012
Bernard Teo
Some Rights Reserved.

Tue 02 Nov 2021

MacOS Monterey "Enablers"

Category : Technology/MontereyApps.txt

I've released my first Monterey apps. DNS Enabler and DNS Agent for Monterey are both out. They can be found here (DNS Enabler) and here (DNS Agent).

I've figured out how to make Dovecot run again on Monterey. A version of MailServe for Monterey will be out by the end of this week, together with a version of Letsencrypt Enabler for Monterey.

As for WebMon, I have yet to figure out how to build PHP from source for Monterey, which does not come with a built-in PHP. AS usual, I would like to figure out how to build all these without Homebrew, if I can, which is an order of magnitude harder, but you'll learn more as you do it on your own.

Posted at 3:37AM UTC | permalink

Wed 08 Sep 2021

MacOS Monterey

Category : Technology/Monterey.txt

If you're wondering if I have a version of MailServe ready for Monterey, I have news for you — I can't (yet) make Dovecot work with Monterey.

I think it's something Apple changed, related to setting entitlements for executables that need to do authentication or access system-level files.

Anyway, I don't have much information to find a fix at the moment. Dovecot just doesn't work on Monterey.

I barely got BIND/named working again on Monterey.

I hate this ritual every year, fixing things that worked but are now breaking all over the place. Last I heard, Monterey doesn't have PHP.

If we could have a stable OS to build on, we could make the Mac the best Unix platform ever. As it is, I wonder what Apple is thinking when it tries to make the Mac as closed as iOS. What if they released an OS and all the Unix people stayed away?

Posted at 8:41AM UTC | permalink

Mon 04 Nov 2019

OpenVPN Enabler

Category : Technology/OpenVPNEnabler.txt

This is an experimental version of an installer for both the client and server components of the OpenVPN Server (for macOS Catalina only) :

OpenVPN Enabler For Catalina

Posted at 9:04AM UTC | permalink

Sat 12 Oct 2019

macOS Catalina

Category : Technology/macOSCatalinaEnablerApps.txt

My Catalina apps are (almost) all out...

MailServe for Catalina, 
DNS Enabler for Catalina, 
DNS Agent for Catalina, 
WebMon for Catalina

I am still working on VPN Enabler for Catalina.

Posted at 2:13PM UTC | permalink

Wed 09 Oct 2019

MacOS Catalina

Category : Technology/macOSCat.txt

I'm still working on new Catalina versions of all my apps. I have some problems still with the new method of getting admin rights, using launchd.

If you're interested to test a Catalina version of any of my apps, write me via email.

The one app that I still can't get to work on Catalina is VPN Enabler. No more PPTP, and L2TP over IPSec seems to have some unfathomable problem. So, I'm not sure if I can even get that to work.

More news over the weekend.

Posted at 6:34AM UTC | permalink

Tue 02 Oct 2018

macOS Mojave

Category : Technology/macOSMojaveEnablerApps.txt

This is the time of the year...

MailServe for Mojave, 
DNS Enabler for Mojave, 
DNS Agent for Mojave, 
WebMon for Mojave and 
VPN Enabler for Mojave 

are all out.

Posted at 2:59PM UTC | permalink

Sat 07 Oct 2017

SSL Libraries and High Sierra

Category : Technology/HigHSierraSSL.txt

Apple’s move away from OpenSSL towards LibreSSL (and I’ve seen mention of BoringSSL, whatever that means), has caused problems with MailServe and DNS Enabler for High Sierra. It means that both Dovecot and the named server can’t find the ssl libraries in their usual places.

To solve this I have to bundle OpenSSL libraries inside MailServe and DNS Enabler for High Sierra, so Dovecot and the named server can find them.

Initially, for versions 11.0.1 of MailServe and DNS Enabler, I've placed my bundled openSSL libraries inside /usr/local, and everything works again.

But then I thought better of the location. Some users may already have their own custom versions of ssl libraries inside /usr/local, which is a popular location for such things. So, in order not to clash with them, the better place to put the ssl libraries specifically needed by MailServe and DNS Enabler is to put them inside /usr/local/cutedge.

So the latest version, 11.0.2, of both MailServe and DNS Enabler for High Sierra does that. But in order to do this, the user has to do a De-Install from the Help menu, so that the app has a chance to clear the previous stuff and make the new linkages for things to work again.

Very sorry about that. But Apple changes, relentlessly, and I’ve got to do my best to patch up and trudge along.

MailServe for High Sierra (ver 11.0.2) and DNS Enabler for High Sierra (ver 11.0.2) are available now.

Posted at 4:53AM UTC | permalink

Wed 04 Oct 2017

High Sierra

Category : Technology/HighSierra.txt

I’ve released High Sierra versions of all my “enabler” apps – MailServe, DNS Enabler, DNS Agent, and WebMon.

Do check it out, thanks.

Posted at 7:24AM UTC | permalink

Wed 05 Oct 2016

How to Digitally Sign an Installer Package

Category : Technology/HowToDigitallySignAnInstallerPackage.txt

After using the Packages app to build my MySQL and Postgres installer packages, this is how I “looked into” them to see how they’ve been built and make any last minute edits, and then digitally signed them with my Apple Developer ID Installer certificate:

In Terminal.app,

(1) cd to the directory with the built .pkg

(2) pkgutil --expand PostgreSQL-Installer.pkg output/

(3) do any edit of the distribution.dist file in output/

(4) pkgutil --flatten output/ PostgreSQL-Installer.pkg

(5) productsign --timestamp --sign FAEEV5252R PostgreSQL-Installer.pkg PostgreSQL-Installer.signed.pkg

where FAEEV5252R is my Apple Developer ID.

And then 

(6) spctl -a -v --type install PostgreSQL-Installer.pkg

to check that the signing is OK and that it won’t be rejected by macOS’s Gatekeeper.

And that’s it.


Posted at 8:51AM UTC | permalink

Tue 04 Oct 2016

MySQL and PostgreSQL Database Installers for Sierra

Category : Technology/SierraDatabases.txt

I have new MySQL (5.7.9) and PostgreSQL (9.4.5) installers that will work specifically with macOS Sierra. They come properly signed with my Developer ID certificate, so you don’t get these nasty Gatekeeper warnings. And they come with their respective Sierra-compatible Preference Panes.

You can download them from my Sierra page.

PS: I built these installers using the very excellent, and yet free, Packages app from Stéphane Sudre. I’m really impressed by the quality of his work. So this is my expression of very deep thanks for the use of his app.


Posted at 1:16PM UTC | permalink

Thu 29 Sep 2016

Postfix Logging Stops in Sierra

Category : Technology/PostfixStopsLoggingInSierra.txt

Postfix stopped logging to /var/mail/mail.log in Sierra. And after I’ve updated Dovecot to 2.2.25, Dovecot stops logging, too.

I’m guessing that both could be the result of Apple’s move towards the Apple System Logging (ASL) facility.

But I have no solution yet.

I feel like Sisyphus, rolling the boulder up the Mac OS mountain, every time at this time of the year.

Update: looks like this is a known problem on macOS Sierra Server. Will put this aside and work on something else, for now.

Posted at 8:38AM UTC | permalink

Wed 21 Sep 2016

MacOS Sierra is here!

Category : Technology/Sierra.txt

The following page contains the download links for all the MacOS Sierra versions of our apps: 


They’re all free – I’ve removed all that serial number code. But gimme a break if I don’t get back to you quickly for support. It’s supposed to be a self-help thing. I’d rather spend more of my time building these apps.

Thanks for staying with us all these years, through thick and thin :)

Enjoy!

(PS: Documentation pages not ready yet. This is for all those who can’t wait. And bug reports are welcome. Thngs that will break, will break).

Posted at 2:07PM UTC | permalink

Read more ...

Mac@Work
Put your Mac to Work

Sivasothi.com? Now how would you do something like that?

Weblogs. Download and start a weblog of your own.

A Mac Business Toolbox
A survey of the possibilities

A Business Scenario
How we could use Macs in businesses

VPN Enabler for Mavericks

MailServe for Mavericks

DNS Enabler for Mavericks

DNS Agent for Mavericks

WebMon for Mavericks

Luca for Mavericks

Liya for Mountain Lion & Mavericks

Postfix Enabler for Tiger and Panther

Sendmail Enabler for Jaguar

Services running on this server, a Mac Mini running Mac OS X 10.9.2 Mavericks:

  • Apache 2 Web Server
  • Postfix Mail Server
  • Dovecot IMAP Server
  • Fetchmail
  • SpamBayes Spam Filter
  • Procmail
  • BIND DNS Server
  • DNS Agent
  • WebDAV Server
  • VPN Server
  • PHP-based weblog
  • MySQL database
  • PostgreSQL database

all set up using MailServe, WebMon, DNS Enabler, DNS Agent, VPN Enabler, Liya and our SQL installers, all on Mavericks.