How long are Apple certificates valid?

[kerfuffle]

Isn't the Security settings option always available for non signed applications? I'm not referring to plugins, but proper apps.

For now, yes. But it could be locked down more tightly in the future by Apple. Plus, it's a hassle to tell users how to give permission to your app. It's probably OK for open source or freeware, but for a paid app I'd expect it to be signed.

[Kraku]

That's true.

[hugoderwolf]

Absolutely, don't make your users override security settings to use your product. Just get it over with and sign it.

[mystran]

Then the user can choose to trust the software and then everything is fine again.

For apps that are not signed in any way, the user is not given this option. They can only choose to cancel or move the app into the trashcan. Users need to give explicit permission in the Security settings panel to run this app. And for plug-ins that usually doesn't work very well.

I think you should still be able to use "xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine <file>" in terminal even with plugins, but I'm not convinced that's a great strategy for a commercial product either.

[Kraku]

BTW, does Apple restrict release of new software on older Apple platforms/OS'es? I.e. if I want to support macOS 10.14, will there be any trouble from Apple? For example I would need to compile the software on old computer using old compiler. Does that create issues from Apple's side?