MAC module updates in September

Hello,

Here are the details of the updates made in September to the reporting modules in order to adapt them to the evolutions of OS, messaging systems and browsers. The arrival of Mojave for Mac users is the main cause of changes at the moment!

 

A/ Mac Mail module:

Version 2.1.0 of the Mac Mail module was released on Saturday 22 September and includes:

- a patch for authentication of users whose password contains a "non-Latin" character (characters from a foreign alphabet for example)

- compatibility with Mac Mail 12

- a new device to notify of the module update

- a new installation script

- the module is now installed in the /Library/Mail/Bundles folder (vs ~/Library/Mail/Bundles, user folder)

- the module can be activated by all users on the Mac

For information, with Mac OS 10.14, some sub-folders of the user's home folder ("Home") are protected (what Apple calls SIP). So you couldn't write to the ~/Library/Mail folder, unless you went to MacOS Preferences and allowed the application... which is a bit of a pain. If you migrate to Mojave (and you leave SIP activated, disabling it is not easy), then you will be solicited by a lot of applications that will ask you for authorisations.

The easiest way was to install it in a common directory for all users.

The installation of the module was tested under High Sierra (10.13) and Mojave (10.14) before and after OS migration, with and without the previous version of the module (version 2.0.5) already installed.

Important: Now in Mojave, users must enable the module in the Mail Preferences (General tab) after installing the module.

At the end of the installation, under Mojave, the user is informed of the need to activate the

A next version is being prepared for :

- Accompany the module with a "companion" application that would control the installation and guide the user more effectively in activating the module in Mac Mail (for example, notifying the user if the module is installed but not activated in Mac Mail).

- TBC: ability to filter phishing URLs in any MacOS application

- propose to install the Signal Spam module in the browsers installed in MacOS

B/ Safari 12.0

Safari 12 no longer accepts "external" (non-Apple validated) extensions that have not been downloaded from the Extension Gallery or the Mac App Store.

The release of the Signal Spam extension is still being validated by Apple (previously we did not have to submit the extension to them).

A new version is being prepared but could not be released in time. This involves a complete rewrite of the extension in Swift (our choice) and the design of a companion application (mandatory, it is what triggers the installation in particular).

We should be able to publish a new version by early 2019.