macOS Big Sur and TotalFinder

Would appreciate that. I much prefer TF’s tabbed interface to the native one. I also make extensive use of the cut/ copy/ paste buttons. Those are the features I need the most. Hopefully, it won’t take a lot to get the core Functionality working.

Thanks for all you do!

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Can’t tell much from a demo in YouTube but… have we lost tags in the new native Finder ?? TF will be essential if that is the case !!

Hi, are there any News about…?
@darwin, its just 30 Days later…?

Thanks…

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I’m sorry. So far I haven’t been able get it working. The issue seems to be that TotalFinder cannot be injected into Finder for some reason.

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Don’t feel the need to apologise - it is still early on with this operating system - it is bound to break things at this stage. I’ve been using your software since the beginning - I have utmost faith that you’ll find a workaround to the current OS changes. Don’t sweat it pal : )

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Most likely looks like your users will need Library Validation disabled as well as SIP
Shouldn’t be a big deal for those already willing to turn off SIP
I wouldn’t be surprised if this makes it’s way to Catalina at some point as well. Basically all apps actively being developed by Apple have this set on.

Big Sur

codesign -dvvvv /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app
CodeDirectory v=20100 size=87553 flags=0x2000(library-validation) hashes=2729+5 location=embedded

Catalina

codesign -dvvvv /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app
CodeDirectory v=20100 size=85729 flags=0x0(none) hashes=2672+5 location=embedded

To disable Library Validation just run the following command with SIP off. Then reboot. You don’t need to be in Recovery Mode to run the command but you can set it there I belive.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true

Not sure if there’s anything beyond that stopping the injection. I have no problem with my sidebar coloring tweak loading.

EDIT: Confirmed, except none of the features seem to be available post loading…

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Hmmm… perhaps a different logic method to do the injection or perhaps a different method to get the features to work is needed. I’m guessing here. My strengths are in testing, not coding.

Most likely some work would be needed to accommodate the UI changes made to Finder in Big Sur. Not sure if the core of Finder has changed much or not but I kinda doubt it has.

I’m 100% sure given some time TotalFinder can be updated to support Big Sur since I’ve already demonstrated my own implementation of one of the features (colored sidebar).

It’s unlikely anything needs to change about the injection method aside from requiring users to run without Library Validation. Although personally I’d probably switch away from using .osax scripting to load I don’t think it inherently presents any problems.

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Dear wOlf, can you please confirm if tabs work as in Catalina?

thanks (it is the biggest issue for me)

where would I find your sidebar color tweak?
Willing to wait for the Totalfinder update by the team but in the meantime every little thing towards usability is appreciated.

Hey w0lf, were you able to get the visor to appear? I used your command and TotalFinder did indeed launch, but the main feature I use, the visor, does not appear. Did you get this working?

@Alexander_Botev @Keith_Harper

If you re-read my original post you’ll see I said

Without actual updates from BinaryAge, TotalFinder will not work on Big Sur. I was simply posting info for the developer because it seemed like they weren’t able to get things loaded and I happen to have my own hobby/business that also involves code injection so I knew what the issue was already.

Also don’t be surprised if it takes a while. To me it looks like there were a decent amount of changes made in this version of Finder and that means some features like tabs will probably need a complete redesign or at the very least some restructuring.

I know personally that the market of people willing to turn off SIP is pretty small and I’d venture to guess that there’s not too much money to be made. At some point it might become not worth the time to make an update for future versions of macOS especially as Apple continues to tighten security each year which hinders programs such as TotalFinder.

@Andreas_Schaefer

I don’t really feel like linking to my own stuff on another businesses forum is appropriate. If you’re interested you can google my usual alias of w0lfschild and from that you should be able to find all my stuff.

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Hey @w0lf, you are spot on. Apple did some UI changes which interfere with my implementation of tabs. I managed to fix most of the issues and have a working Big Sur version here but it is still not ready for release. Hope Apple gives me a week or two before they release final Big Sur to all. Also because of SIP, TotalFinder is not a viable commercial product anymore. I’m not going to invest time in adding new features. But (if possible) I will try to maintain it in its current form for existing users.

Also please feel free to share your stuff. You did a great job with your apps and open-source projects. I believe TotalFinder users might be especially interested in MacForge.

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@darwin just wanted to say “THANK YOU”, so much, for continuing to support TotalFinder even though Apple keeps hitting its business model at the core. The users appreciate it so much, and even though you might lose a lot of customers on the SIP matter, the ones that remain might be willing to pay up. I’d certainly donate if you release a working Big Sur version - I believe that others would too. And the amounts some would donate for this might actually surprise you.

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@Gregsen Thank you for your kind words. I appreaciate your offer but it is not needed at this point. I’m not motivated financially and now it is clear that this Big Sur upcoming update will not be that much work for me. If there ever was a situation in future when I would be forced to significantly rewrite TotalFinder due to new Apple OS release that could be a point where I would consider asking for support. Cheers.

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@darwin, Thank you for your continued support of TotalFinder. I don’t code; but I do run Software QA groups. I’d be happy to help in any way you might need. If you find yourself needing testing assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask. I started this thread, and would be happy to help with testing or some sort of small, financial assistance, too. I use TotalFinder every day and rely on its tabbed interface (its far superior).

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@darwin I also just want to say THANK YOU for your continued support! I’ve just stumbled upon that thread since I was curious if one of the programs I love most, TotalFinder, would be able to run in Big Sur. I got so used to TotalFinder that it feels strange to imagine working without it.

I was very afraid that it would not, but now I have a smile on my face since there’s hope :smile:

Thank you so much again, if you ever come to the point where you think support is needed, please let us know!

Hi, I just released TotalFinder 1.13.0 which has initial compatibility with macOS 11.0 (Big Sur).

https://totalfinder.binaryage.com/beta-changes#1.13.0

Direct download link:
https://downloads.binaryage.com/TotalFinder-1.13.0.dmg

If you are under macOS 11.0 (Big Sur), additionally to disabling SIP, you will need to run this command in Terminal.app:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true

See the @w0lf’s comment above. I have to yet document it and update TotalFinder to detect this and guide users to disable it. Or maybe there is a chance I will be able to compile all TotalFinder plugins into a single binary and avoid loading them as libraries into Finder. Then it would not require this tweak in the future.

Thank you for testing this release.

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Does that Terminal command need to be run from within Recovery, or can it be run from a standard Terminal window in Big Sur?

Standard terminal window. No need to boot into RecoveryOS.