Desktop: GitHub Desktop for Mac keeps asking me for root access to install "helper"

[justinjdickow]

Can someone explain to me what the "Helper" is and whether I should be giving it access?

[joshaber]

Hi @justinjdickow! When does it ask you? Could you drop a screenshot in here?

[justinjdickow]

I'll take a screen shot next time it happens

[justinjdickow]

Here we go

[janbrasna]

👍 … I always get nervous about giving out access that I don't have any idea why it's needed and for what benefit. Think iOS permission priming dialogues to elaborate a bit on why such permission is needed (benefiting the user, or making some convenience part of the app working et al. …)

[iAmWillShepherd]

What version of GitHub Desktop are you using?

[joshaber]

In this case, the dialog _does_ provide a bit of context: "An update is ready to install."

Depending on your user account, permissions on the enclosing directory, etc. you may need to authenticate each time an update is installed. Does that make sense with your experience?

[justinjdickow]

Hmm I guess so - but what is a helper tool? That just reminds me of the Flash Player Helper Tool.

[joshaber]

Unfortunately that's macOS's nomenclature 😞 It's an implementation detail which means we use a separate executable with escalated privileges to perform an action.

It sounds like this is working as intended, so I'm gonna close it.

[ihomp]

I have the same issue, very annoying..

[iAmWillShepherd]

@ihomp, could you open a new issue detailing expected/actual behaviors and reproduction steps? This helps us to better understand the problem and arrive at a solution faster.

[ihomp]

@iAmWillShepherd I guess it some how related to the fact, that I have two mac users.
I might installed github desktop when I was not on the admin user but with admin login and password.
So, now at least once per day I see this popup.
I'll try to reinstall GitHub Desktop from admin user. Though not sure if that matter... don't know for sure how to reproduce it.

[jhand0867]

I get the same issue every time I start my GitDesktop

[justinjdickow]

I think this issue should stay open, it's no longer that there's an issue with it popping up and asking to install, it's that giving it access doesn't do anything and the next time you open GitHub Desktop it just asks again.

[shiftkey]

Hey @desktop/electron, is this an issue you've seen elsewhere? I'm not sure what control we have over this in Desktop, and it'd be nice to see if we can address this to make things clearer...

[nathancarter]

Exact same problem. Note that if I do not have the app open, I do not get this message. But if I leave the app open, I get this message daily. And, in my case also, this is the only app on my Mac that behaves this way, so there has to be another way to do this.

Even if the answer is that those of us who are experiencing the problem installed this app the wrong way, then at the very least this issue should explain how to fix that problem. At best, the popup itself should tell me.

Note that I installed the usual way--download the .dmg, drag the thing into Applications. Nothing strange.

[murphye]

I keep getting this prompt over and over again, even if I enter my password and accept. Seems there is a bug here as well. Running 1.1. Guess I should just manually install 1.1.1

[BobbaTea]

Same with me. It constantly asks for permissions to get helper tools almost 3 times a day. How many helper tools does it need!?

[planetf1]

I'm getting this daily now too.
I also see 'An update will be installed when you restart the app' - it does not get installed.

[planetf1]

Installed the new version manually from .dmg - all my settings lost - logins, project. recreated. Very different UI so I must have been quite backlevel with updates failing to install

[shiftkey]

@planetf1 the Desktop Electron version is shipped as a .app inside a .zip file. I'm not sure what version you have but it doesn't sound like it's come from the channels we manage.

[iBobik]

Yesterday the window popped up on a screen while Keynote presentation was on a wall. I would kill for this.

Also this is only app on my system what distracts by updates while not using it.

@joshaber Is this it really intended to be anoying like this? If not you should reopen it.

[j-f1]

@iBobik what version of GitHub Desktop do you have?

[iBobik]

1.2.0

And I see next version is waiting.

1. 
   
   1. 2018 v 13:32, Jed Fox [e-mail]:
   
   

@iBobik https://github.com/iBobik what version of GitHub Desktop do you have?

—
You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/desktop/desktop/issues/3616#issuecomment-393853593, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAlfWPyt768mza_4MAw5wpGa6PjDqQ_dks5t4SY1gaJpZM4RD9oi.

[BobbaTea]

I deleted Github Desktop and reinstalled it. There seem to be no problems, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

[planetf1]

@shiftkey my install is from https://desktop.github.com/ - I gave the wrong description. My bad. I meant I clicked/ran, just checked. I do indeed just have the .zip within which is the app but did not move to applications - so I was running the old one. Now corrected & will monitor. thanks

[murphye]

I get this all of the time. Super annoying. I am wondering if it has something to do with having multiple GitHub clients open on multiple user accounts. For those having this problem, do you have more than 1 user account on your Mac with the GitHub client open?

[nathancarter]

I have never had more than one user account with the GitHub client open. But I have not received this dialog box in over a month now. I don't know what I did that fixed it.

[iBobik]

1.2.2 still do it when updating to 1.2.3

[iBobik]

To all: I've created new issue #4890 - vote for it, please :-)

[shiftkey]

To everyone in this thread still encountering issues, check the permissions of the app are what you expect:

~/ ls -l /Applications | grep "GitHub Desktop"
drwxr-xr-x   3 shiftkey  staff   96 25 Jun 15:57 GitHub Desktop.app

If root owns this for some reason, or an account that you weren't expecting, you might need to chown it to change the ownership.

[iBobik]

What is the correct owner, group and permission?

[shiftkey]

@iBobik to get the current owner:

$ whoami

The group should be staff unless your user directory manager changed it (more context here).

I don't think you need to change the permissions from the defaults, but see the previous snippet for what mine is set to (note that w is only set for the owner).

[octalmage]

Thanks @shiftkey, this resolved it for me!

[rsm5139]

I know this is a closed issue, but I have the same problem. It will ask me almost every day to enter an admin password to install a helper. Sometimes, it will ask 4-6 times in a row. I keep approving it, but it will ask over and over. Very annoying. I end up closing the app until I need it. I've tried changing the app ownership (a coworker of mine tried as well) and it didn't work.
If it asked once a day, that would be annoying, but bearable. Asking multiple times a day---especially multiple times consecutively---is unacceptable.

[rsm5139]

I know this is a closed issue, but I have the same problem�. It will ask me almost every day to enter an admin password to install a helper. Sometimes, it will ask 4-6 times in a row. I keep approving it, but it will ask over and over. Very annoying. I end up closing the app until I need it. I've tried changing the app ownership (a coworker of mine tried as well) and it didn't work.
If it asked once a day, that would be annoying, but bearable. Asking multiple times a day---especially multiple times consecutively---is unacceptable.

I want to update this. I checked the ownership of the app for me and my coworker, and for both of us it reverted to root. Not sure why it went back. I tried changing ownership again, and we'll see if the problem persists.

[shiftkey]

@rsm5139

I want to update this. I checked the ownership of the app for me and my coworker, and for both of us it reverted to root. Not sure why it went back. I tried changing ownership again, and we'll see if the problem persists.

Thanks for the extra context. I'm not really sure what would be changing ownership of the app, but reverting it to your account was shown to be the fix before so I hope that addresses it for you this time.

[rsm5139]

@shiftkey

Thanks for the extra context. I'm not really sure what would be changing ownership of the app, but reverting it to your account was shown to be the fix before so I hope that addresses it for you this time.

I just ran an update. The ownership changed back to root again.

[shiftkey]

I just ran an update.

@rsm5139 can you be more specific here about what was updated?

[rsm5139]

@shiftkey I updated the GitHub Desktop app. So, it looks like updating the app reverts ownership to root.

[ihomp]

shows root for me too..
I have two mac users, how do I chown and to which one? ;)
I use github desktop with both users

@shiftkey

[riazrizvipn]

The problem is due to issue #3410 where you cannot opt out of Github Desktop auto-update. For Mac users with multiple accounts, /Applications is unlikely to be owned by a staff user (I set my /Applications to root:admin). So auto-updating apps that are run from staff accounts will require an admin to input their password daily. So until Github fixes #3410 it's only practical to use the command line tools. Or maybe someone can suggest a better ownership policy for /Applications on machines with multiple accounts?

[leoden]

You should maybe email out a message to OSX users I assumed all the prompts means the App was updating every time I opened it. It last actually updated in 2017 so after removing the app and reinstalling the new GUI is a bit of a shock!

[enhering]

Same here. I'd like to add just another little contribution to the problem: if the screen is locked and this dialog appears, it does not take long for the computer fan to run at an audible level. It seems the dialog window takes many resources to exist. Once I authenticate, the dialog disappears and the CPU usage drops.

[jdischler]

Should the CPU usage really be spiking this much when the "An update is ready to install" dialog is up? My laptop was closed up when I came into work this morning but I already knew this dialog must have been sitting around for a while because the fan was spinning hard. Because this happens all the time.

[tierninho]

@jdischler Thanks for sharing. Note, the latest version _was_ downloaded in the background, hence the fan spinning. Overall, these types of issues are very difficult to pinpoint as each computer has different capabilities/limits, and it depends on what else was running on your computer at the time. Happy to diagnose further if you notice anything else.

[morinx]

Just to give an update: The CPU issue still exists to the point where my Mac crashes and forces a restart if I don't get rid of the helper tool window in a few hrs.

[aaronmw]

Personally, I'd be happy if I didn't get this thing multiple times a day. Maybe let me opt into weekly updates vs. hourly or whatever rate you're pushing them?

[morinx]

Can we reopen this issue please? It has not been fixed in any way. thank you

[paulsuh]

This appears to be an Electron bug triggered by running as a non-admin user. I am encountering the same problem with Signal.app which also uses Electron. As a result, I need to do updates manually. FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM, IT'S NOT THAT HARD. I am a dev who has worked extensively with the Authorization Services framework and it's very straightforward.

[NickCraver]

I am getting this on macOS 10.15.5 and GitHub Desktop v2.5.2 as well - can this be reopened since it's still occurring?

I'm not counting explicitly but it seems to be happening about 4-5 times a day, I'm not sure what the exact frequency is.

[NickCraver]

Just got this sorted (thanks @shiftkey!), see https://github.com/desktop/desktop/issues/3616#issuecomment-400371047 above. Indeed it was installed by our company app store (JAMF) and ended up as root. Thanks for the fix!

[carnesen]

I wasn't even using my computer, but I could hear the fan whirring from across the room. I pulled up Activity Monitor and GitHub Desktop was pegged at 100% CPU trying to install a "helper". The CPU issue still seems to be present.

[guyskk]

Please re-open the issue, it has not been fixed !

The CPU usage is always 100% when add helper dialog shows, and the dialog shows too often.

MacOS: Version 10.14.6
GitHub Desktop: Version 2.5.4

$ ps -ef | grep 1073
120064522  1073     1   0 10Sep20 ??        49:33.88 /Applications/GitHub Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/GitHub Desktop -psn_0_159783
120064522  1183  1073   0 10Sep20 ??         1:48.14 /Applications/GitHub Desktop.app/Contents/Frameworks/GitHub Desktop Helper (GPU).app/Contents/MacOS/GitHub Desktop Helper (GPU) --type=gpu-process --field-trial-handle=1718379636,470133686989908402,8766959380983333707,131072 --enable-features=WebComponentsV0Enabled --disable-features=SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --gpu-preferences=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 --shared-files
120064522  1191  1073   0 10Sep20 ??         0:05.72 /Applications/GitHub Desktop.app/Contents/Frameworks/GitHub Desktop Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/GitHub Desktop Helper --type=utility --field-trial-handle=1718379636,470133686989908402,8766959380983333707,131072 --enable-features=WebComponentsV0Enabled --disable-features=SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=network --shared-files --seatbelt-client=53
120064522  1209  1073   0 10Sep20 ??         6:43.97 /Applications/GitHub Desktop.app/Contents/Frameworks/GitHub Desktop Helper (Renderer).app/Contents/MacOS/GitHub Desktop Helper (Renderer) --type=renderer --field-trial-handle=1718379636,470133686989908402,8766959380983333707,131072 --enable-features=WebComponentsV0Enabled --disable-features=SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --lang=en-US --app-path=/Applications/GitHub Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/app --node-integration --no-sandbox --no-zygote --enable-remote-module --background-color=#fff --disable-blink-features=Auxclick --enable-websql --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-zero-copy --enable-gpu-memory-buffer-compositor-resources --enable-main-frame-before-activation --renderer-client-id=5 --no-v8-untrusted-code-mitigations --shared-files
120064522 78435  1073   0  9:48AM ??         0:00.12 /Applications/GitHub Desktop.app/Contents/Frameworks/GitHub Desktop Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/GitHub Desktop Helper --type=utility --field-trial-handle=1718379636,470133686989908402,8766959380983333707,131072 --enable-features=WebComponentsV0Enabled --disable-features=SpareRendererForSitePerProcess --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=utility --shared-files --seatbelt-client=71
120064522 11267  9494   0 12:08PM ttys004    0:00.00 grep --color=auto --exclude-dir=.bzr --exclude-dir=CVS --exclude-dir=.git --exclude-dir=.hg --exclude-dir=.svn 1073

[tierninho]

@guyskk Thanks for the note. We just opened #10625 to get to root of the CPU issue.

[tonyayoub]

This happened to me because I moved Github Desktop to Applications folder. Github desktop does not have an installer and it is just a .zip folder that unzips where it is. Keep it in a regular folder and don't move it to a system folder.

[mcgoat96]

on macOS 10.14.6, multiple users seem to launch the same instance, i.e., launching from Spotlight UserB may be running "/Users/userA/GitHub Desktop.app", resulting in conditions similar to #3616 (comment).