MacOS Catalina, Channels-DVR, and external drives

All warnings of running beta software acknowledged...

I've found that running the DVR on Catalina using an external drive breaks the current update mechanisms.

Essentially, in Catalina applications require explicit user approval to access external drives. Supposedly, a user only has to grant this access once and MacOS is supposed to 'remember' the access granted.

What I am seeing is that each upgrade of the DVR software (ie; beta version in this case) requires user approval and creates a new approval entry in the Files and Folders section of Privacy within Security & Privacy settings.

I suspect this behavior is because of the linking of the latest version rather than running an explicit binary for channels-dvr.

At this point, I don't know if this behavior is permanent but I am suspicious that it might be so thought I'd call it out.

1 Like

@tmm1 - Latest public build 19A536g exhibits the same behavior as the previous build, FYI.

Is this still happening?

Yes, with every new Channels DVR Server build you need to explicitly grant access to Files & Folders to the DVR app if your storage is on external USB.

Can you try going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access and see if Channels DVR is listed there? Does adding it make any difference?

It was not listed under Full Disk Access. I've added it and the will let you know if it makes a difference the next time I install a beta version. Is one due out soon?

I'm uploading one now which will be ready in about 15 minutes.

Sounds good. I'll test with that one then.

That made the difference for me when I was running it on Catalina for about a week.

Haven’t seen the update yet. Did it get delayed?

Should have been up earlier v2019.09.24.1838

Strange. I get “Up to date” each time I check on both IOS and from MacOS.

Using click-and-hold? Any errors on the DVR Log?

Long Day...

2019/09/24 20:33:17 [SYS] Error checking for update: Get https://cdn.channelsdvr.net/2019.09.24.1838/darwin-x86_64.sha256: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority

Huh. Maybe a different Catalina bug? I don't have any issues updating on my Mac..

Okay go ahead and try again, it should work this time.

Ok, it’s working now. Just have to wait for the DVR to idle later tonight so it can install.

Allowing full disk access appears to fix the issue. I’ll let you know if I see something different in subsequent releases.

I spoke to soon. Though the DVR loaded I could not watch a TVE channel until I granted access to the external USB.

Just upgraded to v2019.09.25.0055 and even with Full Disk Access enabled I get:

56%20PM