ipfs/ipfs-desktop

Inform end-users about why "System Events" access is being requested on macOS

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#1,367 opened on Feb 29, 2020

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P2effort/hoursexp/novicegood first issuehelp wantedkind/maintenancestatus/readytopic/design-content

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Description

On macOS, it's a fairly standard practice to display a pre-roll if your application needs some form of permissions, before calling the system APIs for the first time that will actually produce the system's requested-permissions window.

For instance, for any given end-user, the following window is likely A) intimidating, and B) possibly encourages insecure habits, such as simply clicking "accept" when they see a request like that:

Some examples of such pre-rolls from other macOS applications (mind you, some of these are for-pay examples; there's no need for ours to be fancy, just clear):

Good practices:

  • Check if it's enabled before displaying pre-roll, just in case
  • Only display pre-roll once; if it's explicitly been ignored/disabled by the user, then don't bother them
  • Show exactly what functionality the user will lose if they ignore it / deny the permissions

Related: #753

Contributor guide

Research direction
Implement a pre roll dialog that explains the need for System Events access on macOS, with a check for existing permissions and a single display.
Tech stack
javascript
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
ElectronmacOS
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60