Bugzilla – Bug 2227
Mac: Audacity does not run properly on macOS 10.15 Catalina
Last modified: 2020-03-15 05:45:04 UTC
Audacity does not run properly on macOS 10.15 Catalina, in particular recording from Mic or USB appears to be a problem. This was originally reported by users on the Forum while Beta testing Catalina - but now that Apple have released Catalina it still appears to be a problem in the released version of macOS 10.15 Part of the problem appears to be Apple's requirement for "notarization" as they tighten up their security mechanisms James wrote in an email thread: >we need to have a discussion about whether notarization is even compatible >with GPL. We might not be allowed to distribute Audacity for macOS, if we > notarize it. > >I don't think notarization is compatible with the spirit of GPL. Apple are >effectively saying "You cannot run modified software on your machine without >first getting approval from us". There are workarounds for notarization, and >currently the approval process is 'fair', not one where Apple will say "No, >because we don't like you"... but the mechanism does allow for that to change. >Even if there is a guarantee that there will never be a hard veto on software, >if 90% of users are put off by warnings "This could damage your machine" in >effect, it is a lock for which only Apple hold the key. > >Another problem for us for our beyond 2.3.3 releases is that we may now have >to abandon using deprecated interfaces - which could be a lot of coding pain. >We'll have to see. Audacity 2.3.4 probably will have to be notarized. >Or, if we determine that macOS is no longer GPL compatible with Catalina, >we may have to announce that we only support mac via distros like homebrew >and macports, which can then include/import old libraries and indeed Linux >versions of compilers to link them, as necessary.
This Bug is marked as P2 but it is marginal P1 - only the fact that we have warnings on our Website (and Facebook pages) that Catalina does not support Audacity keep[s it from being a P1. It is also marked as a regression.
I have not tested this personally as I am holding off right now on moving to macOS 10.15 Catalina - I am relying on Forum and Facebook postings.
I have now tested this on Catalina. 1) Launching Audacity from the entry in the Applications folder launces OK but Audacity fails to record. A flat-line silence is recorded. The assumption is that Audacity is blocked from accessing the mic (also true when attempting to use an external USB device 0 in my case Edirol UA-1EX) 2) A user on the Forum posted a workaround, launching Audacity from the Terminal app. Several users reported that it works for them (a couple reported that it did not) 3) I tested this workaround and it works for me - accordingly I published an Announcement in the Mac section of the Forum: https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=107162 4) I advertised this fix on the Forum ad Facebook - several users posted back that it worked for them - so far just one user gas reported that it did not work. My assumption from observations on testing is that while Audacity itself lacks mic access permissions - Terminal appears to be able to get those granted and pass them through to Audacity This is a kludge, an Elastoplast, and not a fix.
Leland has been working on fixing this - it works fine on my macbook pro with latest Catalina 10.15.3 (and did too with 10.15.2) confirming that the latest alpha Mac build based on commit 7706e0c works fine on Catalina 10.15.3: 1) it downloaded and launched from the app icon just fine, 2) on attempting initial record it requested access to the mic, 3) recording then worked fine after granting that access. Due to recent build issues (plus the fact that it is our key 2.4.0 change) I will keep this open for a while longer on a watching brief ...
Created attachment 924 [details] Catalina asks if you want Audacity to access incoming network connections I note further areas where Apple have erected a higher proprietary wall with Catalina With an initial launch on Catalina macOS asks if you want allow Audacity to access incoming network connections. This of course in addition to the permission that you have to grant for Audacity to access the microphone
(In reply to Peter Sampson from comment #5) > Created attachment 924 [details] > Catalina asks if you want Audacity to access incoming network connections > > I note further areas where Apple have erected a higher proprietary wall with > Catalina > > With an initial launch on Catalina macOS asks if you want allow Audacity to > access incoming network connections. > > This of course in addition to the permission that you have to grant for > Audacity to access the microphone Do you have the Firewall turned on?
(In reply to Leland Lucius from comment #6) > (In reply to Peter Sampson from comment #5) > > Created attachment 924 [details] > > Catalina asks if you want Audacity to access incoming network connections > > > > I note further areas where Apple have erected a higher proprietary wall with > > Catalina > > > > With an initial launch on Catalina macOS asks if you want allow Audacity to > > access incoming network connections. > > > > This of course in addition to the permission that you have to grant for > > Audacity to access the microphone > > Do you have the Firewall turned on? Hmmm, I just enabled the firewall here and I still can't get it to ask me about network connections. Do you have any extra plug-ins installed?
(In reply to Leland Lucius from comment #6) >Do you have the Firewall turned on? I have McAfee installed - I believe that has a firewall (In reply to Leland Lucius from comment #7) >Do you have any extra plug-ins installed? No, this is just a QA test engine
mod-script-pipe listens on a pipe connection for piped messages from Python, if that is relevant.
This also has popped up recently with Mojave. It does not seem to always happen with a new build. I don't know if that is because I am building it myself or why as it does not happen every time with a new build or a new config. I have the firewall on, but it always has been on.
(In reply to Peter Sampson from comment #4) >Due to recent build issues (plus the fact that it is our key 2.4.0 change) >I will keep this open for a while longer on a watching brief … I plan to wait until we get be first Release Candidate to test in before I finally close off this P1 bug.
Created attachment 929 [details] Network access prompt I've just add it happen here. I'll try to reproduce.
In my case it was the AUNetSend Audio Unit plug-in. With that enabled, anytime I opened Audacity (since I was denying it), I'd get the popup. And, this is one case where I'd expect to receive the popup.
I have tested this on many alpha Mac builds and it all worked fine. More importantly we had an external volunteer who wanted to test the Catalin fix for us, Leland kindly produceda signed DMG. The tester has now confirmed that she can launch 2.4.0 from the Applications folder and record properly. I also tested that DMG. Accordingly I shall close the bug as FIXED RESOLVED
