pulsar-edit
"Pulsar" would like to access data from other apps.
Thanks in advance for your bug report!
- [X] Have you reproduced issue in safe mode?
- [X] Have you used the debugging guide to try to resolve the issue?
- [X] Have you checked our FAQs to make sure your question isn't answered there?
- [X] Have you checked to make sure your issue does not already exist?
- [X] Have you checked you are on the latest release of Pulsar?
What happened?
I get a macOS dialog box:
"Pulsar" would like to access data from other apps. Keeping app data separate makes it easier to manage your privacy and security. Don't Allow | Allow
Pulsar version
1.113.0
Which OS does this happen on?
🍎 macOS
OS details
Sonoma 14.3 (23D56)
Which CPU architecture are you running this on?
Apple M1/M2
What steps are needed to reproduce this?
- Launch Pulsar;
- Open any file;
- Wait a moment.
Additional Information:
Observations
It will first appear when I open a file. Regardless of if I select don't allow, they often seem to open for no apparent reason. Sometimes I will get what seems like an endless loop of these popups. (I also believe from my own observations and some things I've read re: other apps with this issue that the allow/don't allow choice doesn't persist across application execution instances.)
Investigation
I've examined the Console logs and see a ton of kernel process messages of the form: "System Policy: Pulsar Helper (Renderer)(6573) deny(1) file-read-data" + (some path here). It includes .trash, countless ~/user_name/Library subdirectories, and .photolibrary files.
I also see tccd process messages that seem linked to the matter (specifically regarding the actual dialog windows being raised).
A search on Google reveals that other apps (e.g. Zoom, Dropbox, Better Touch Tools) will get the same dialog box, and a cursory read of the anecdotal reports seem to indicate that this began with security changes in macOS Sonoma.
Hypothesis
So, overall, it seems to be a macOS "thing", but it feels like something that each app developers has to contend with on their end to conform to the updated security policy.
Based on what I've read, granting the app Full Disk Access will "solve" the issue, but I don't like the idea of giving Pulsar that level of access. I don't understand why it needs to go into my user library folder if I myself don't need it to.
Plea
These popups wear on my patience. They're a chronic distraction. I'm surprised no one else has reported them, because based on my research and troubleshooting, it seems like an App-macOS relation issue, not a "me" issue (I've done my due diligence re: safe mode, a fresh install, updating the OS, clean config, etc.).
Thanks for your attention folks! Looking forward to a proper resolution. 🙂
This is certainly not by design.
I do recall another bug once where someone wondered why Pulsar was trying to crawl their entire disk, but it might take some time to chase down. I've got an Intel Mac, but I'm on Sonoma 14.2.1, and I haven't ever seen this dialog — only the ones that prompt for specific access to ~/Downloads, ~/Documents, and so on.
Further Observations
I've noticed that Pulsar is listed in the System Settings "Full Disk Access" pane. It's toggled off. I use the "-" button to remove it. I start Pulsar. It remains absent from the "Full Disk Access" pane. I open a file in Pulsar, triggering the TCC dialog informing me that Pulsar would like to access other apps. Pulsar reappears in the "Full Disk Access" pane. I press the "-" button to remove it; it immediately reappears (while Pulsar is still running). I quit Pulsar, remove it from the FDA list, repeat the process, get the same result.
I also monitored the tcc.db (where the FDA permissions are stored on macOS apparently) as suggested here. It mirrors the observations I make in the System Settings FDA pane: when I remove Pulsar from the FDA list, it's removed from tcc.db; when I open a file using Pulsar, it is added to the tcc.db.
I've also observed the above in Safe Mode on macOS.
I'd some other apps listed there that I was able to remove using "-". Pulsar is the only one that comes back after I remove it.
I'd be curious if this is an Electron/NodeJS thing.
Do you happen to have GitHub Desktop installed? Or would you mind testing? They are on (last I checked) somewhat similar Electron version as us (so they may be missing the same Electron updates we are in respect to newer macOS behavior), as well as it's an Electron app that does need disk access.
If that doesn't produce the same behavior it's possible we could see what's different about the way we access the disk compared to them.
Otherwise, I do wonder if this will be fixed by something as simple as the Electron update, because I can assure you there's nowhere in Pulsar's code asking for this. If it continually pops up despite whatever Pulsar is doing, my money would be on it being something about our outdated Electron/NodeJS/Chromium that we are using (and of course working very hard to update)
That had occurred to me too.
I've installed Github Desktop. It asked me if I wanted to give it permission to access ~/Documents. I permitted it. I didn't get the "would like to access other applications" dialog box. I checked Console and didn't see it crawling the entire user directory or doing anything extraordinary.
Also, I checked the release notes and as of September 21, 2023 they're up to Electron v24.8.3 (further along than 12.2.3).
More interestingly is that I just tried this on a second machine with a totally clean install of the same OS version and did not have the issue. I feel obligated to attempt a clean install on my main machine (despite having just upgraded to the most recent version).
I'll report back with what I observe.
Thank you.
Sorry for a late response @lifeisbard, but you're right, seems I was incorrect in thinking GitHub Desktop was on a similar version to us.
But very interesting you didn't see this on a clean install. Does make me wonder what's triggering the behavior, but if the issue doesn't pop up again after an upgrade suppose something could've gone wrong, and maybe Pulsar was trying to read the entire system as a project directory or something. Hard to say