41

I'm a software developer and as such I build and run programs hundreds of times per day. I've noticed that since I started using Catalina, after compiling and linking there is a delay (which can be seconds) when the internet is slow or having problems (I have bad internet often). If I disable wifi and rebuild, the delay goes away.

How can I disable this so my builds run faster?

nohillside
  • 100,768
GenericPtr
  • 733

2 Answers2

43

Yes, as a security measure, macOS Catalina sends some small info (can be seen by packet size) about unsigned executables to the Apple servers.

A simple C program as illustrated in ..

.. can demonstrate the lag in startup on poor internet connection conditions.

The article has detailed observations, tests and commentary on the process.

You can block the syspolicyd process from connecting to the internet, and it won't hinder its normal functioning locally, using a firewall.

I use LuLu, since it's free. A lot of people use Little Snitch.

Many other apps also ping their servers on startup or quitting: Firefox, Adobe, Sublime Text etc.

Other threads:

anki
  • 11,753
2

Use an Application Firewall to control what app on your mac connects to the internet.

Lulu is free and opensource. Radiosilence and TripMode are two other very affordable alternative app firewalls that are simpler to use than Lulu. Little Snitch and HandsOff are more advanced with more features (and hence costlier).

If you like controlling what apps connect to the internet on your mac,think carefully before upgrading to macOS Big Sur. Apple has crippled application firewalls on macOS Big Sur, to specifically allow all Apple authorised software to bypass application firewalls and some VPNs, and connect to the internet whenever it wants even if you have blocked them on your firewall.

Update: Apple claimed that the issue with macOS Big Sur was a bug and it has been fixed now.

sfxedit
  • 1,712
  • 1
    It's worth noting that Apple has promised to implement options to disable the feature 'within the year' on Big Sur. For the time being, you could just disable gatekeeper altogether. – benwiggy Dec 28 '20 at 09:46
  • @benwiggy What feature has Apple promised to disable? And can you provide a source? – sfxedit Dec 28 '20 at 19:05
  • 2
    See the last section on this Support Page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491 – benwiggy Dec 29 '20 at 10:05
  • Thanks for the source. I see they've promised to provide an option to disable it next year. But still, there is nothing to celebrate here as after Apple's subversion of macOS Big Sur that prevents the blocking of some Apple apps it's all redundant - that's the major thing they need to fix to regain trust again. – sfxedit Dec 29 '20 at 10:27
  • 1
    Change is gonna come :-) https://apple.slashdot.org/story/21/01/14/141248/apple-removes-feature-that-allowed-its-apps-to-bypass-macos-firewalls-and-vpns – nohillside Jan 14 '21 at 14:46