Update to MacOS 10.15 Catalina (Catostrophe) prevents my Notecase Pro installation from accessing the /Documents/Notecase folder. It worked before the upgrade, fails totally now.
This appears to be permissions issue, although I have no idea what Apple was thinking when they created this.
Is there a fix for this? I don't want to revert to 10.14. If worst come to worst, I will go back to Linux.
Thank you for your thoughts, Peter_Watt. I tried them but had no success, so I started poking around to see what I could do that would change the symptom.
To recap, the original issue was that after MacOS 10.15 was installed, it broke my Notecase installation. Specifically, Notecase was denied permission to my Documents folder, where I kept all my Notecase docs. That made it unusable. I called Apple support but got little help there beyond the standard level 1 support suggestions - run AV check, update the app, check with Notecase to see if they didn't support this release of the OS, etc. Apple also had me do a couple of unusual things - reset the System Management Controller and reset NVRAM or PRAM. And of course, I updated the Mac to the 10.15.2 just to make sure there were no new fixes out there.
I then looked at permissions for my home folder, my Documents folder, and my Documents/Notecase folder but didn't change them. Given that other apps were able to browse those same folders, I didn't feel like permissions were the issue here.
I then started poking around from Notecase to see if there were any folders it COULD see. Turns out that there is a hidden folder called .Notecase that it could get into. I copied one of my files to that folder and Notecase was able to open it and work with it again. So, the immediate issue is resolved -- worked, around, actually.
However, I would very much like to know what Apple changed from 10.14 to 10.15 that caused this issue.
Thank you for your thoughts, Peter_Watt. I tried them but had no success, so I started poking around to see what I could do that would change the symptom.
To recap, the original issue was that after MacOS 10.15 was installed, it broke my Notecase installation. Specifically, Notecase was denied permission to my Documents folder, where I kept all my Notecase docs. That made it unusable. I called Apple support but got little help there beyond the standard level 1 support suggestions - run AV check, update the app, check with Notecase to see if they didn't support this release of the OS, etc. Apple also had me do a couple of unusual things - reset the System Management Controller and reset NVRAM or PRAM. And of course, I updated the Mac to the 10.15.2 just to make sure there were no new fixes out there.
I then looked at permissions for my home folder, my Documents folder, and my Documents/Notecase folder but didn't change them. Given that other apps were able to browse those same folders, I didn't feel like permissions were the issue here.
I then started poking around from Notecase to see if there were any folders it COULD see. Turns out that there is a hidden folder called .Notecase that it could get into. I copied one of my files to that folder and Notecase was able to open it and work with it again. So, the immediate issue is resolved -- worked, around, actually.
However, I would very much like to know what Apple changed from 10.14 to 10.15 that caused this issue.
Do you have any third party antivirus tools installed?
Uninstall any A/V, cleaners or helpers.
Also boot into Safe Mode by booting with Shift held down. Then reboot normally.
As a Linux user you should have no problems checking user permissions..
More importantly you should contact the developer of Notecase and ask when they will release an update that is compatible with Catalina. Developers have had almost two years to get ready for Catalina. The latest version of Notecase Pro is 4.4.8, released in November. Can we assume you have the latest version installed? Also, in their support forums I don’t see anything like your issues being discussed right now. You may want to contact them with your issue.
I did ask the Notecase developer about this. He says this seems like a known issue with Catalina, and from these forums it appears that other apps may experience similar issues.
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/issues/3710
https://nektony.com/duplicate-finder-free/folders-permission
Catalina upped macOS security requirements in major ways. Try the suggestion offered by @Luis Sequeira1 above. Otherwise the developer will need to comply with the new Catalina security measures which may include Apple’s notarization scheme. If the app launched but can’t find its data file that implies a permissions/security issue.
Luis, I tried your suggestion of giving Notecase full disk access. Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the issue. So far, the only thing that works is putting the application's data files into the hidden .Notecase folder.
Thank you for putting the suggestion out there though. You never know what might work.
Truly - that's how I first perceived it. This web link hosts an interesting discussion of the issues associated with 10.15's new security. While it references GIMP directly, it also addresses similar issues with other open source software.
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/issues/3710
Go to System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Privacy
click Full Disk Access and add your application to the list.
Apple Support told you to do an A/V check??
Did they tell you how?
AFAIK the inbuilt Apple security does not offer a scan procedure.
I questioned that myself. However, I keep Malwarebytes on the Mac for the occasional reassurance / comfort level scan on an ad hoc basis. It ran properly with no errors.
Access Denied
