macOS file association just goes to a whole new level

[Shirasaki]

Recently want to rip songs I got into another format so I can sync them to my iPhone and iPad. All of a sudden I am greeted with this, for every single $*$^& file I want to process.

A bit of backstory and rant here:
1. The file is just a music file. There IS no developer involved into it. I have no idea why this could become "a malware", even if it might be possible to embed code into the file content and execute it that way, which I am not sure if macOS supports that.
2. File association to another app by "always open with" doesn't work at all, far worse than High Sierra, even for "verified applications". For example, every %&(^* time I want to open a CSV file with Excel, I cannot double click, because Numbers just takes full control over opening that file by default and there is no way to change it.
3. macOS on M1 (and above) really makes people using randomly downloaded software from "unverified developers" (those who can't be bothered or cannot afford to submit their app to be notarised, such as lots of free apps) so painful nowadays it is ridiculous. I always say macOS lockdown is only a matter of time. I feel that time may come sooner than later.

So two questions:
1. Is there legitimately no way to reassign a file to be opened to another application, whether said application is from "verified developer" or not? Microsoft Excel is NOT from an "unverified developer" (unless Apple really want to sabotage Microsoft Office in this dirty way).
2. Is there even a way to remove that annoying popup shown in this thread? I have a feeling I cannot, unless I disable a bunch of security features, which would disable some macOS features. (cough ...le pay cough)

Rant over.

 

[FNH15]

Ok.

1. Are you sure it’s a music file? What does Get Info show? Could be an app disguised as another file. I’ve seen this before.
2. Works fine for me. Changed CSVs to open in Excel, works just fine on 12.0.
3. They can notarize their app for free. Laziness is not an excuse for them. In any event, right click -> open isn’t some egregious sin...

 

[Shirasaki]

Ok.

1. Are you sure it’s a music file? What does Get Info show? Could be an app disguised as another file. I’ve seen this before.
2. Works fine for me. Changed CSVs to open in Excel, works just fine on 12.0.
3. They can notarize their app for free. Laziness is not an excuse for them. In any event, right click -> open isn’t some egregious sin...

1. I am pretty sure. Get info shows it’s a music file and it is.
2. Doesn’t work at all for me. Worked great back in High Sierra.
3. So I have 20 of such music files and I want to process all of them. I am supposed to click 20 pop ups of this same %^@!*(@^* ? If you think that’s fine, good for you.

 

[appltech]

It looks like you're dealing with GateKeeper and there isn't much you can do to simply turn it off. It's weird it reacts to a music file this way, though. Could you check "system preferences->security&privacy->general" and make sure "allow apps downloaded from" is on "appstore and identified developers"?

 

[jcscol]

Do the files have a quarantine attribute attached? Take a look at this article by Howard Oakley:
Quarantine attributes on documents

If so, you can unquarantine a whole folder of files using Pratique, one of his attribute tools.

 

[white7561]

It looks like you're dealing with GateKeeper and there isn't much you can do to simply turn it off. It's weird it reacts to a music file this way, though. Could you check "system preferences->security&privacy->general" and make sure "allow apps downloaded from" is on "appstore and identified developers"?
View attachment 1920548

You could set it to anywhere using spctl --master-disable . But yeah it allows you to run things from unverified developers etc but it will still popup the warning when you're running it for the first time

 

[FNH15]

1. I am pretty sure. Get info shows it’s a music file and it is.
2. Doesn’t work at all for me. Worked great back in High Sierra.
3. So I have 20 of such music files and I want to process all of them. I am supposed to click 20 pop ups of this same %^@!*(@^* ? If you think that’s fine, good for you.

1. What app are you using to process the .flac files?
2. This is really odd. What happens when you try to change the default app for files?
3. This is related to the first point, I think. Under Get Info -> General, it shows up as a FLAC Audio file?


Edit: downloaded the first sample file (a .flac) from this website, and opened it in Audacity. Worked just fine.
Then I changed the default app for .flac files to IINA. Worked fine as well.
Something is up with either your OS install, the app for processing, or the files you’re using.

 

[Shirasaki]

It looks like you're dealing with GateKeeper and there isn't much you can do to simply turn it off. It's weird it reacts to a music file this way, though. Could you check "system preferences->security&privacy->general" and make sure "allow apps downloaded from" is on "appstore and identified developers"?
View attachment 1920548

 

[Shirasaki]

1. What app are you using to process the .flac files?
2. This is really odd. What happens when you try to change the default app for files?
3. This is related to the first point, I think. Under Get Info -> General, it shows up as a FLAC Audio file?


Edit: downloaded the first sample file (a .flac) from this website, and opened it in Audacity. Worked just fine.
Then I changed the default app for .flac files to IINA. Worked fine as well.
Something is up with either your OS install, the app for processing, or the files you’re using.

1. I use XLD.
2. I try to use option-Click to change file extension which worked well in High Sierra, but it never works in Monterey. Note that I didn't use any macOS between High Sierra and Monterey.
3. It shows as FLAC file.

 

[Shirasaki]

Do the files have a quarantine attribute attached? Take a look at this article by Howard Oakley:
Quarantine attributes on documents

If so, you can unquarantine a whole folder of files using Pratique, one of his attribute tools.

This is possible, but I already processed the files in question out of frustration.
I think more sample files could come in very soon, then I can examine a bit further.