Submit a Mac application and CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest

A certificate signing request isn’t needed to ship a Mac app. Rather, you need to sign your code with a code-signing digital identity. In many cases you create the certificate component of that digital identity by submitting a certificate signing request to Apple, but there are paths that don’t require that.

For more background on this, see Certificate Signing Requests Explained and TN3161 Inside Code Signing: Certificates.

I wanna take a step back and ask about your overall goal. You mentioned Transporter, which suggests that you want to ship your app on the Mac App Store. Is that correct?

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

I wanna take a step back and ask about your overall goal. You mentioned Transporter, which suggests that you want to ship your app on the Mac App Store. Is that correct?

Exactly. Thank you for the web links.

If you want to submit to the App Store then you must sign your code with an Apple-issued code-signing identity. There’s no getting around that.

However, you do have a choice as to how much work that’ll be:

• If you build your app in Xcode, it has a bunch of automatic code signing support that radically smooths this process.

• If you build your app outside of Xcode, you have to deal with all of this stuff manually.

You mentioned Transporter, which suggests that you’re building your app outside of Xcode. Is that correct?

If so, why is that? Are you using third-party tools that don’t work in Xcode?

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

You mentioned Transporter, which suggests that you’re building your app outside of Xcode. Is that correct?

No. Is there an other way to submit an Apple application ?

you must sign your code with an Apple-issued code-signing identity

A certificate ?

I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

A certificate?

To sign code you need a digital identity. A digital identity consists of a certificate and a private key. While it’s technically true that only the certificate must be issued by Apple, I use the term “Apple-issued code-signing identity” because the term “certificate” is confusing.

TN3161 has an in-depth explanation of this stuff.

No.

So you are building your app with Xcode?

If so, you can submit it directly from the Xcode organiser. See the various documents referenced by Xcode > Distribution.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"