Comment by sgjohnson
20 hours ago
That just highlights my point about this article being a cheap dunk?
Because I was very disappointed with it ending at “SSV doesn’t let you”. SSV can be disabled, and the author should have known (almost certainly knows) that.
Disabling SSV may have been beyond the scope of the experiment the author was attempting. I suppose he could've been more explicit about that.
From one of his comments on his post:
> I wish whoever takes that project on, every success, even more so at working out how those processes can be disabled completely while keeping the SSV intact.
The thing I find disappointing about the article is that nothing else seems to have been explored. Now no options might exist, but then again, isn't the point of such a write up to find the ones that.... do...?
A lot of people know that modern macOS is a bit of a let down when it comes to modifying it unless you disable a bunch of security layers. So the information gained is basically 0.
Edit: I should clarify that some of the ways they analyze how services are launched etc. are quite interesting, though I hope my prior thought makes sense to some.
Disabling the SSV is perhaps the worst mistake you can make to a macOS install. Howard certainly knows that this is true but has chosen not to explore the details in this article.
His website are deep dives into the technical workings of macOS that no one else does. I’d even argue he has more insights and documentation than Apple. It might sound harsh, but he’s just very clinical about it.