Developer tools access needs to take control ...

[anch in nk]

After a complete clean install of my iMac with High Sierra, I reinstalled all the software manually.

About two months later I started getting a pop-up:
Developer tools access needs to take control of another process for debugging to continue. Enter your password to allow this.

I have no idea what program is triggering this and do not relish the idea of entering my admin password if it's not legit. It happens irregularly, perhaps a couple of times a week and I have to click Cancel about 10 times to make it go away.

In other forums going back a few years there are references to the problem in connection with developer tools - but I don't use any.
Any ideas?

 

[treekram]

I saw your post in the Apple forums and there you mentioned you don't have Xcode. That being the case, the most likely explanation of what's going on is that the developer of an app that you installed has enabled a debugging feature which triggers this message. The setting of this debug setting on a public release version may have been an oversight or there may have been some other debugging software working with this app that is now out-of-date with High Sierra.

It's possible, but unlikely, that some malicious software uses this message to try to mimic the above scenario.

There's some solutions mentioned in the following:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions...to-take-control-of-another-process-for-debugg

I think the thread in the link presumes you have Xcode and I'm not sure that it works in situations where the Xcode debugger is not installed. You might want to check to see if the Xcode debugger got installed as part of some other software installed. You can do that by starting the Terminal app and typing in "lldb" (that's two ell characters). If the debugger is not installed you get "command not found" - otherwise you'll get a "(lldb)" prompt in gray at which you can type "quit" to exit.

Given the possibility (however remote) of this being something malicious and given that it's more of a nuisance than a real problem, I would not try any of the suggestions in the previous link. Instead, you should try to figure out which software is running that triggers this message. If you find out which software it is you can see if they have an update or contact the developer to try to resolve the problem.

The software which triggers this is likely to be from a lesser-known developer and/or is likely to be older. It's a good practice anyway to make sure that whatever software you installed is compatible with High Sierra so that's where you might want to start.

 

[anch in nk]

I saw your post in the Apple forums and there you mentioned you don't have Xcode. That being the case, the most likely explanation of what's going on is that the developer of an app that you installed has enabled a debugging feature which triggers this message. The setting of this debug setting on a public release version may have been an oversight or there may have been some other debugging software working with this app that is now out-of-date with High Sierra.

It's possible, but unlikely, that some malicious software uses this message to try to mimic the above scenario.

There's some solutions mentioned in the following:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions...to-take-control-of-another-process-for-debugg

I think the thread in the link presumes you have Xcode and I'm not sure that it works in situations where the Xcode debugger is not installed. You might want to check to see if the Xcode debugger got installed as part of some other software installed. You can do that by starting the Terminal app and typing in "lldb" (that's two ell characters). If the debugger is not installed you get "command not found" - otherwise you'll get a "(lldb)" prompt in gray at which you can type "quit" to exit.

Given the possibility (however remote) of this being something malicious and given that it's more of a nuisance than a real problem, I would not try any of the suggestions in the previous link. Instead, you should try to figure out which software is running that triggers this message. If you find out which software it is you can see if they have an update or contact the developer to try to resolve the problem.

The software which triggers this is likely to be from a lesser-known developer and/or is likely to be older. It's a good practice anyway to make sure that whatever software you installed is compatible with High Sierra so that's where you might want to start.

Hi treekram
Thanks for the quick response!
The reason why I reinstalled everything manually from scratch was to get rid of any iffy programs that may be a bit old. I'm now down to the programs I need for work. But that list includes around 20 progs, any one of which may be sending me messages. If it identified itself, that would help.
The odd thing is that I have only recently started getting the messages. Before I reinstalled, I never saw them.
So now I have to work out which progs I have installed now that I didn't have before, as you suggest "from lesser known developers". Very annoying. Perhaps it's just an attempt by a foreign power to influence my voting behaviour next time round ;-)
If I find the culprit I'll report back.
Many thanks again.
anch

 

[anch in nk]

I saw your post in the Apple forums and there you mentioned you don't have Xcode. That being the case, the most likely explanation of what's going on is that the developer of an app that you installed has enabled a debugging feature which triggers this message. The setting of this debug setting on a public release version may have been an oversight or there may have been some other debugging software working with this app that is now out-of-date with High Sierra.

It's possible, but unlikely, that some malicious software uses this message to try to mimic the above scenario.

There's some solutions mentioned in the following:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions...to-take-control-of-another-process-for-debugg

I think the thread in the link presumes you have Xcode and I'm not sure that it works in situations where the Xcode debugger is not installed. You might want to check to see if the Xcode debugger got installed as part of some other software installed. You can do that by starting the Terminal app and typing in "lldb" (that's two ell characters). If the debugger is not installed you get "command not found" - otherwise you'll get a "(lldb)" prompt in gray at which you can type "quit" to exit.

Given the possibility (however remote) of this being something malicious and given that it's more of a nuisance than a real problem, I would not try any of the suggestions in the previous link. Instead, you should try to figure out which software is running that triggers this message. If you find out which software it is you can see if they have an update or contact the developer to try to resolve the problem.

The software which triggers this is likely to be from a lesser-known developer and/or is likely to be older. It's a good practice anyway to make sure that whatever software you installed is compatible with High Sierra so that's where you might want to start.

Back again treekram
I think I've found it: HUBIC

This is a cloud application that I use. It's based in France and belongs to OVH.com.
I got the pop-up again this morning and, at the same time, I noticed the Hubic icon had frozen. I then entered my password, since I'm sure the app is safe. The icon immediately disappeared. After restarting Hubic, it is now running smoothly, so I assume that was it.

Thanks for your help!
Cheers from sunny Germany.

 

[treekram]

Back again treekram
I think I've found it: HUBIC

This is a cloud application that I use. It's based in France and belongs to OVH.com.
I got the pop-up again this morning and, at the same time, I noticed the Hubic icon had frozen. I then entered my password, since I'm sure the app is safe. The icon immediately disappeared. After restarting Hubic, it is now running smoothly, so I assume that was it.

Thanks for your help!
Cheers from sunny Germany.

Glad you found it - hopefully that's the app.

You should find out from OVH.com if you have the latest version. With debugging information, it's only useful if it's communicated back to the developer. If they're sending back that information automatically, you should have been notified at installation that it could happen or at the very least it should be some type of configuration setting you can change. As I mentioned before, it could have just been an oversight during the build of the app.

Cheers back from (at the moment) not so sunny Hawaii.

 

[Gargantua20]

Developer tools access needs to take control of another process for debugging to continue. Enter your password to allow this. Problem is still around in Mojave.

On 11.02.2019 I´m still having this problem.

I´m using Xcode 10 Version 10.1 (10B61), Oct 30th 2018 and any time I´m using it (that´s every day) this message pops up. Using Version 10.2 beta (10P82s) Feb, 4th 2019, does OK.

Strange, after using 10.2 beta I returned to 10.1 (10B61) and the issue was gone.

Greetings, Ronald Hofmann

 

[GreatBigBore]

In case it helps anyone, I just now ran into the same problem with Xcode 10.2 (10E125). I reinstalled macOS from a blank drive a week ago, and have been using Xcode just fine until about ten minutes ago. Thanks to all you guys for all the clues. The dialog came up because I had created a playground--for the first time since the reinstall. When I saw it, I thought the same as some of you: malicious hackers!

I was especially suspicious when everything I googled talked about the problem relating to iOS, because I'm doing macOS stuff, not iOS. Not running a simulator anything. I just created the first playground since my most recent fresh install.

Thanks for the clues! Peace and luck to all