TotalFinder status under OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)

Thanks. Please use the latest beta. The issue should be fixed by 1.7.9 release:
http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/beta-changes#latest

TotalFinder has been a godsend. I can’t imagine Mac life without it.

I’ve looked over some of the other options and I’m unimpressed. Mostly because they don’t sync directly with Finder itself (I realize this is why were are now having this issue.) Cut, Copy and Paste, as others have mentioned, is great.

Definitely willing to pay for an upgrade should you be willing to take on a new version.

If this is the end then I understand and thanks for all the hard work thus far!

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Me, too!

Can I just check that SIP has to remain changed. I can’t do the SIP change install Total Finder (which I’ve tried living without) and once installed turn SIP back on?

SIP has to remain disabled.

If you have to enable it again, you can try to follow this article:
http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/system-osax

t worked like a charm to me. Thnx!

I am amazed, or maybe not, at the level of denial coming from many of you. One poster even went as far as to say, quote “I simply do not believe you…” in reply to Darwin when he said there is no way to make TF work with SIP enabled. Most of the misunderstanding is because of a lack of understanding how TF works. Comparing to programs like PathFinder, and saying why can’t TF do that, etc is irrelevant. Those apps are separate apps, they launch and run independent of Finder. TF is not independent of Finder, it uses code injection, it LITERALLY seeks out and INSERTS its own code into Finder IN MEMORY at runtime. This is no different than what a Trojan or malware program does, Trojans and malware insert themselves into running code to change behavior. The only difference is intent, malware does it to accomplish undesirable behavior; TF does it to accomplish desired behavior. The technical process of replacing the program code is identical. And this behavior is exactly what SIP is meant to prevent, because if TF can do it, so can any other program/developer. Apple CAN NOT judge intent, it can only prevent outside programs from trying to circumvent the operating system, not the reason why.

I do not blame Apple, the reality is allowing code injection is an open invitation to malware, and frankly, it is AMAZING it has gone on this long without major infections on the Mac platform. but OS X can no longer fly under the radar and hope malware developers don’t target Macs. Without SIP in place, ANY DEVELOPER could write a program that can change pretty much anything in OS X, once the user puts in their password during install. People criticizing Apple or calling SIP stupid, are IMO naive. I get it that techies and people who tweak their systems (i.e. people who use TF), feel SIP is dumb, but that is because as techies we understand how to practice safe computing. The other 99.5% non techies don’t understand, and dont’ need to understand, they need to be protected from themselves, and that is why SIP was implemented.

For TF to work without disabling SIP, would require a COMPLETE and FUNDAMENTAL rewrite and design of how TF works, basically TF would have to be rewritten as an app, like PathFinder or ForkLift. This would not be trivial, but a huge undertaking. It’s not just changing a few lines of code here and there, it is a completely different approach and design, and Darwin understands that it isn’t worth his effort to enter into a market space that is already crowded, with products that have years head start, but y’all won’t listen.

Some people have said why can’t Apple keep SIP, but just allow certain ‘trusted’ programs to make changes. The SECOND you go down that road, you have totally defeated the purpose and security of SIP. Who decides what is ‘trusted’? How will you enforce? Hackers can already spoof app signatures and security signatures, so having an app signed is still no guarantee. EVERY developer in the world is going to request an exception be made for it, EVERY developer in the world is going to insist its programs are ‘trusted’. Once you open a ‘back door’ then you open a back door to potentially anybody. Do you expect Apple to test every Mac app to see if it can be trusted, and every upgrade and update for all time? And once ‘trusted’ status is given to a developer, who says that developer can’t start inserting ‘bad’ behavior into his program? What if a spyware company pays a developer enough money to use his ‘trusted’ status to bypass SIP and add code to do nasty things to your Mac?

As a developer myself, I understand Darwin’s position. I love TF, but the writing is on the wall. Turning off SIP is a stop gap, and even though I may turn off SIP personally because I’m technically savvy and know how to protect myself, I will NOT turn off SIP or recommend it for my non technical friends and family and co workers. It’s precisely those kind of users that SIP is most intended to try to protect.

6 Likes

Hello Darwin,

I came across this bug while trying to show how dual mode in TF is much better than Split view (considering finder windows management). First I had dual pane mode and tried to use split view and it didn’t allow me to select another application. Then I tried, while in split view to “release” the tabs from dual mode and TF crashed. I realize this is a very specific situation, and I believe hardly anybody will use it like this, but it caused TF to crash so I believe it is relevant.

I am not sure if you are still maintaining TF, but I figured to report it here regardless …

Thanks for all the hard work.

Are you guys planning on shifting your scope to other platforms or other app ideas? Really curious to what you guys can come up with.

Regards,

TD

Michael1, if you were going to use another app which one would you choose (suggest) at this point?

FYI:

If you hurry you can still get Commander One for $2.99, which is 80% off retail, for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

I played with Commander One, it’s a good start, but has a long way to go; I would keep an eye on them for sure and hope they continue to improve. I was hoping to avoid using something like PathFinder or ForkLift which seemed to ‘heavy’ and overkill for what I want. Kind of like using a Humvee when all I want is to drive to the corner convenience store; i.e. I need to do one or two things, go, in and out, done. However, I have finally settled on PathFinder. It provides most of the things I like with TF:

  1. sidebar on BOTH sides of dual pane
  2. colored sidebar, but not only colored icons, it uses the custom icons I’ve assigned to my folders. There are other apps which say they provide colored icons in the sidebar, but it’s only their own default icons they’ve chosen, or Apple’s default colored icons stored in the System/Library/Coretypes.bundle file, and only for the most common folders (Documents, Download etc); PF displays my custom icons I’ve assigned for ANY folder OR drive. FYI, PF comes up by default with a black/white sidebar, to get it to color you actually have to create a NEW sidebar, make it your default, then delete the B/W one. Not obvious, but once you know the trick…
  3. multiple tabs across the top
    4)status bar at bottom
  4. full path displayed at top with custom icons, so I can jump quickly to any folder up or down the hierarchy
  5. Drive icons on the sidebar or at the top if I want.
  6. sort the sidebar categories any way I want, i.e. sort Devices, Shared, Favorites as groups, not just the individual items in each group. For example, I like Favorites listed first, then Shared volumes, then Devices last.
  7. speed. PF has improved much in responsiveness since I tried it last many years ago. No it doesn’t pop up as fast as TF, but good enough. Now I just keep a PF launched all the time, and minimize to the Dock when not needed. And once the window is open, the file functions perform as fast as TF, at least on newer Macs. On my older, slower Macs PF is not as responsive, but I’m not upgrading my old Macs to El Cap anyways, so I continue to use TF on those.
  8. I don’t use PF for the other things like torrent, FTP, access to cloud drives etc, so no comment there. I’m use to using other apps for those functions, so my use of PF is primarily as a local file manager, the same as I used TF.

this is just my personal opinion, YMMV, each to their own. Kind regards.

Hi,

http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/index.html

seems that they solved the problem with Apples System Integry Protection.

Will that help?

Hi @darwin, I don’t know how much development is still going on with TF, but if there’s any at all, then I’d like to contribute some feedback on how it’s working under OS X 10.11.

[I tried a couple of the alternatives to TF – honestly, I did – but I just could’t live without it in the end! Consider me also in the camp of people who would happily pay for *any* development work you do on the app… for any release on any version of OS X, now or in the future :grin:]

Anyway – column widths. I’ve noticed that in List view, the columns that you have showing will always reach to fill the entire width of the TF window, such that the “Name” column is super-wide if you don’t have that many columns of information. I can re-adjust the width of that column, so that there’s blank space at the end of my shown columns (which is how it used to be in 10.10), but as soon as I go to another tab and come back, it’s filled the window again.

Is this something you’d consider looking at for a future release under El Capitan? Or have you totally hung up your shoes on this one now?

Thanks and thanks again for anything you’re prepared to do for us small vocal group of supporters!

1 Like

Hi @gpcroft,

This list-view name-column auto-resizing is a hairy thing. It is standard Finder behaviour, which is implemented in the AppKit itself.

I was able to disable it in versions prior El Capitan after discussions like this:

// Annoying column view in mavericks with 1.5.5 in dual mode
// https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5499589
// Columns not resizable in dual panel mode
// Persistent Name column width in List View mode

Unfortunately the old method didn’t work under El Capitan, so I left it as is. I could try to spend some time to figure out a way how to disable it under El Capitan again.

Ah, I had no idea (not having used the vanilla Finder.app for a very very long time)! Well, anything you can do, I’m sure we’d all be grateful for… but understand if it’s not a priority.

Cheers

I am using DFX5 and TF 1.7.10 and I noticed that some features in DFX5 are not working with TF enabled (using Visor or not), namely the new DFX drawer feature. Has anyone else seen issues between TF and DFX5.

As far as the DFX work around I think the two products can’t be compared in function so the work around may not be an option or even a thought for TF.

@darwin I apologize in advance as I don’t fully understand all the technical requirements involved here, but I was reading about code injection and I came across a mod called “DockMod” that figured out a way to do code injection in El Capitan without disabling SIP. Portions of their FAQ page says:

Dockmod 4 for El Capitan does not modify any system files. Apple introduced a new security policy on OS X El Capitan [SIP] that prevents modification of system files, even by privileged processes… To get around these measures and still achieve code injection, Dockmod 4 utilizes a signed kernel extension (KEXT) to handle the injection…

Dockmod 4 does not require you to disable System Integrity Protection (Rootless).
See FAQ section on: https://www.spyresoft.com/dockmod/

This option may not even be possible for TF, but I thought I’d bring it up in case no one else had.

Hello there

Could the developer of Totalfinder comment about using signed Kernel extensions to handle the code injection?

would it be at all possible?

Kind regards

Giacomo

Just a thank you for explaining how to turn off SIP. I will always use TotalFinder, it’s way better than any alternative, and the introduction of SIP is extremely uncool. If Apple cares so much about their “System Integrity”, then they need to make a system that actually has integrity.

Anyway if anything comes up in the future that needs to be disabled to keep using TotalFinder, I’ll always appreciate it if you can tell us what needs to be done, regardless of wheter TotalFinder is being updated or not.

I just updated to 10.11.4 and somehow everything seems to be broken. Basically opening new folders, whether through Spotlight, through Alfred or for example by directly clicking on a folder on the desktop, doesn’t work at all. The requested directory is not opened. I have tried turning off visor, and turning off tabs completely, and still no luck. Sometimes nothing happens, and then sometimes a broken Finder window appears in the middle of the screen which I cannot interact with at all, and which I cannot close without killing Finder. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Totalfinder to no avail.