EVERY macOS INSTALLER PACKAGE LOOKS THE SAME
- One contains a useful and well-designed product, which can’t be easily installed using drag-and-drop.
- One contains well-intentioned software that will nevertheless splatter pieces all over your startup disk.
- One contains a vital component — like a scanner driver — but will also install a handful of annoying, unwanted applications that the driver vendor distributes in return for “promotional consideration.”
- One contains malware that will infest your system and your network, and probably ruin your week.
Which one is which? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The answer in macOS has traditionally been “install it and find out!”
The built-in security features of macOS — such as Gatekeeper, package signing and most recently, notarization — might rule out malware … if you’re lucky. But there’s still a huge gray area between that and a well-designed package.
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