Make it stop asking me to allow incoming connections!

[brat]

Every single time I start Boxee.app on my Intel Mac Mini running the latest Leopard, I got the stupid Mac OS security dialog asking me if I'm sure I want to allow incoming connections for Boxee.app. I say yes (but there's no "yes always" option) and it works fine.

However, since this machine has no keyboard or mouse (it's plugged into my big-screen TV), the only way to dismiss the STUPID dialog is to use screen sharing or ARD to get in there and click the damned "Allow" button.

What a huge pain! I can't watch anything 'til I do that, or at least, if I'm watching something local, the dialog is smack dab in the middle of the screen, obscuring my view of the underlying Boxee application. What a terrible user experience!

I didn't have this problem originally, but it's been happening consistently for at least a month now.

To be clear, I've gone into the System Preferences > Security > Firewall panel and actually explicitly deleted Boxee.app and re-added it to ensure it somehow doesn't recognize the latest version as the same as previous ones. But that has had NO EFFECT.

This problem is not going away. I'm really frustrated with this. It means I can't rely on Boxee to just work via remote control. I have to VNC into the machine EVERY TIME I want to start Boxee just so I can dismiss the alert. And of course, I can't leave Boxee.app running for too long or it freezes (see my other post) so this is not something I can just ignore.

Help?!

Thanks.

Steve

[subvertbeats]

If you temporarily select 'allow all incoming connections' does that resolve the problem?

This is nothing to do with Boxee though, its an OS X thing (I think you already understand this)

When you removed boxee from the list of allowed apps, did you close and exit preferences?
Then go back in and add it? or did you remove and re-add without closing preferences?

[solefald]

yeah, this has absolutely nothing to do with Boxee, this is OSX thing, which has been pissing me off, so i had to Allow all incoming connections.

This dialog would pop-up ALL THE TIME, for different apps.

[SpaceBass]

almost sounds like you have the application "Lil Snitch" installed...

[brat]

If you temporarily select 'allow all incoming connections' does that resolve the problem?
Yes, definitely.


When you removed boxee from the list of allowed apps, did you close and exit preferences?
Then go back in and add it? or did you remove and re-add without closing preferences?
Hmm, good idea; I'll try that tonight. I did not close and quit and the re-open preferences. I will give that a try.

Note: while yes, this is a Mac OS X thing, if we can figure out a standard way for users to resolve this, it could go in the FAQ for Mac Users and make their lives better. 'Cause right now it greatly reduces the usability of Boxee for me. :-(

Thanks.

Steve

[matti]

I wholeheartedly agree with Steve. This IS a major annoyance.

Tried deleting Boxee from the firewall list of in sys prefs, closed and tried all variations. Still doesn't work.

I am 100% sure that this problem only exists since the last update. I never had this problem before. I was really surprised when i saw it the first time and have gotten really annoyed with it since then.

But then again, i think there also was a OS X update recently, so maybe OS X is to blame after all. :confused:

[captls]

This is most definitely the latest boxee update. I've had 10.5.6 on for a long time now and just updated boxee (last night) now whenever I start it, this pops up. Whatever it's trying to communicate with, please disable. Or at least allow us to manually alway's allow (or deny). If not, blah to that. I'm honest, I'm lazy and don't want to get up to hit allow when I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep. Other than that. Boxee Rocks!

[andreslucero]

This is happening for me as well. Tried fixing permissions, updating to the latest version of Boxee, etc., but the settings don't seem to be saved (even though an exception for Boxee is listed in the Firewall settings).

[berror]

This is also anoying me for a while now.
The problem didn't show for a week or something, after I reinstalled boxee. (I guess)
Today I installed videomonkey and videodevil and it was back.

I'm going to check if it has something to do with videomonkey/devil by uninstalling it.

EDIT:
After removing the plugins videomonkey and videodevil via boxee, the firewall prompt was gone. (make sure to also delete the plugin from te boxee plugin folder)

I don't say the error is because of these two plugins. I just think it happens after installing just any plugin or something. Because it happened to me before.

[cscan]

This is also a problem for me, and also seems to be only with the last update or so.

I'm not so sure it's an OS X problem, is it? I mean, this is the only app I have that seems to repeatedly ask this allow/deny at startup. (To be clear: It happens with other apps, this is the only one that seems to "forget" and needs to ask it each time.)

[rh76]

Skype and other apps had similar problems upon the release of Leopard. As I understand it, if the boxee.app bundle changes in any way, the next time the app is run, the leopard code-signing firewall check will fail and the firewall will again ask the user again if the application is allowed to accept incoming connections.

Skype was rewritten to store any changes (e.g. preferences, log files, etc.) outside of the app bundle in the application library so that this annoying question wouldn't keep popping up.

Bottom line: I believe this has to be fixed in boxee and/or in specific plugins unless you are willing to open your firewall in big ways.

For more gory detail go here: http://homepage.mac.com/simx/technonova/tips/leopard_code-signing_and_the_applicatio.html

[pswindells]

Has anybody managed to fix this annoying bug? Like many of the other users, my system is controlled by remote so this dialog is preventing me using boxee. Any help will e much appreciated. Paul

[Marwood]

I had exactly this same problem with various apps but since upgrading to Snow Leopard Apple appears to have fixed the problem, it's certainly stopped doing it for me anyway!

I know it's not exactly an answer for people who want a solution for Leopard but I thought I'd let people know!