'"LibreOffice" will damage your computer' warning on El Capitan

[marcstober]

I just downloaded LibreOffice 5 on my Mac running El Capitan (OS X 10.11).

When I try to open it, I get a message (see picture):

“LibreOffice” will damage your computer. You should move it to the Trash.

This is different than the message I’ve gotten in the past with some applications, under previous OS X version, that the application was downloaded from the Internet, where I was able to by pass the warning by right-click on the app and clicking Open. That results in the same message this time; there is no option to open it.

Could my download from LibreOffice.org have been infected? Has Apple just gotten more aggressive with its malware warnings?

How do I verify I have a non-infected copy and run it?

[marcstober]

Ok, I figured it out.

First, it’s possible to verify that the downloaded file is not tampered with by:

1. Clicking “info” on the download page and looking for the SHA1 hash. (This part of the answer found here: Where to find checksums for LibreOffice for windows 8 64 bit )

2. Following these instructions to verify the hash: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201259

Then, it’s possible to remove the quarantine attribute which is causing this with this terminal command:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/LibreOffice.app 

(via Remove OS X Quarantine Extended Attributes from Files | Embedded Software Engineer's IT and http://pecunia.nerdcamp.net/blog/2011/02/mac-os-x-remove-quarantine-status-from-files)

From what I can tell, in previous releases of OS X, the “will damage your computer” warning was only for known malware (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201940). There had been a less serious warning about downloading programs from the Internet from an unknown developer. However, in El Capitan, it appears the “damage your computer” warning is applied across the board (presumably unless you have the software approved through some Apple-managed procedure). You could probably also turn off the security entirely in Preferences, but I’d rather keep it on if I can. What a hassle…

[metaworx]

for me, this worked!

[charlie.it]

I think you should change the El Capitan settings to allow installation of LibO. (In this moment I have not my iMac with me for a better answer).

[jayArr]

A word of reassurance.

I’ve been developing an application using BASE & WRITER with various versions of LO from 4.4 - 5.0.2 on Windows 7, Windows 10, OSX 10.5 - 10.11 with different JRE’s from Apple & Oracle daily for the last six months.

NONE have damaged any of my computers.

I know that Apple tightened up security with the release of El Capitain.

If you are worried about LO being infected I suggest you junk your current copy and re-download it. In addition to doing a complete virus scan of your machine.

[rautamiekka]

Is that security for real ? Just cuz a package isn’t signed by paying (presumably) doesn’t mean it’s not safe. It’s like saying black people are automatically a threat but whites aren’t.

[marcstober]

Does LibreOffice have a way to verify the download using a MD5 hash or something simlar? For example, OpenOffice has instructions here: http://www.openoffice.org/download/checksums.html . I don’t usually both with this type of thing, but in this case I’d like to.

Also, does anyone know specifically what to do to install under El Capitan, preferable for this file only and no completely disabling malware protections? I totally blocked from installing and can’t imagine I’m the only one?