Vadim's Notes

Fixing Dark Mode Shortcut on iOS Simulator

It has happened to me a couple of times already after upgrading to macOS Monterey...
It looks like Xcode and iOS Simulator can get into a state where Command-Shift-A (⌘⇧A)
keyboard shortcut for switching between light and dark mode in Simulator just stops
working. It is registered by the menu just fine, but it doesn't do anything... I've
found one way to fix it:

$ sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/PrivateFrameworks
$ open /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Resources/Packages/XcodeSystemResources.pkg
$ xed .

This re-installs Xcode's private bits, and things start working again...

Swift runtime libraries and iOS

🎗 Reminder that starting with iOS 12.2, it's possible to use Swift without incurring size penalty of bundled Swift runtime libraries.

Swift apps no longer include dynamically linked libraries for the Swift standard library and Swift SDK overlays in build variants for devices running iOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2, and tvOS 12.2. As a result, Swift apps can be smaller when they're shipped in the App Store, deployed for testing using TestFlight, or thinned in an app archive for local development distribution.

From Xcode 10.2 Release Notes via this StackOverflow answer.

AdGuard Home on Ubiquiti Cloud Key: Update

I have noticed that a couple of things has changed since those original installation instructions were written in the reddit post I have referred to earlier:

• If you have SD card installed, it is now mounted under /sdcard;
• If you disable systemd-resolved service as recommended, CloudKey wouldn't boot. More specifically, the unifi-core service would go fail to launch.

Here are the updated steps which take these two issues into account.

# 1: Download and unpack adguard
cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/releases/latest/download/AdGuardHome_linux_armv7.tar.gz
tar -xzf AdGuardHome_linux_armv7.tar.gz
mv /tmp/AdGuardHome /opt/adguard
rm AdGuardHome_linux_armv7.tar.gz

# 2: Make var directory
mkdir /var/opt/adguard
ln -s /var/opt/adguard data

# 3: Turn off systemd-resolved
cp /etc/resolv.conf /tmp
systemctl stop systemd-resolved
systemctl disable systemd-resolved.service
unlink /etc/resolv.conf
mv /tmp/resolv.conf /etc

# 4: Run initial setup
./AdGuardHome
# Open http://[ip]:3000, change admin port, hit Ctrl+C when done

# 5: Setup as a service
./AdGuardHome -s install
systemctl status AdGuardHome.service
# Done. Open http://[ip]:[port].

# 6: Backup config
mkdir /sdcard/backup
cp /opt/adguard/AdGuardHome.yaml /sdcard/backup/AdGuardHome.yaml

AdGuard Home on Ubiquiti Cloud Key

I have been running a filtering DNS instance on my Synology for a while as described by Gerzon on his blog, which originally was detailed on old Synology forums - but those URLs no longer work. This set up was running fine. I have used this DNS instance to host records for internal network, and I could always add some one-off blocks to it as well on as-needed basis. But I wasn't keeping it up-to-date with filter list updates, and so I was looking for a way to automate the update process.

While looking for alternative solutions (such as PiHole) I have and stumbled upon AdGuard Home package, which looked exactly what I needed, and more, with features as per-client configuration. So I have decided to give it a whirl, and install it on another host - to keep existing set up running just in case I needed a backup. UniFi Cloud Key Plus was a target for my AdGuard set up, and it was a breeze. A Reddit user has described installation steps here. With differences being, I have not yet installed a Micro SD card into Cloud Key, so I have installed it into /opt/adguard, and stored AdGuard's data in /var/opt/adguard.

mkdir /opt/adguard && cd /opt/adguard
# unzip adguard here
mkdir /var/opt/adguard
ln -s /var/opt/adguard data
# proceed with install steps


That's it! Now I can have it all: nice UI with DNS query logging capabilities, benefits of auto-updating filters, and per-client control over devices on my network on top of that. 🎉

Aperture on macOS Big Sur 11.6

Thanks to the Tyshawn's Retroactive app, it is still possible to run Apple's Aperture app on the latest macOS versions. At the moment, I'm running Aperture on macOS Big Sur 11.6 with the help of Retroactive 1.9. It even comes with extensive deep dive article explaining how it came together. Neat!

While Retroactive has a couple of issues - primarily I see that thumbnails don't refresh as quickly and reliably as they are supposed to - but it is still pretty much usable. One issue I have noticed which wasn't mentioned is it seems that the Aperture's login item responsible for updating iCloud's photo stream has stopped working, and macOS repeatedly tries to re-open it every 10 seconds... That doesn't sound optimal.

Oct 9 00:01:16 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.photostream-agent[99515]): LaunchServices returned a bundle URL that does not match with the LoginItem's known association.
Oct 9 00:01:16 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.photostream-agent[99515]): Service exited with abnormal code: 78
Oct 9 00:01:16 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.photostream-agent): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.


Since I am not using iCloud with Aperture, my solution was simply to disable it.

launchctl disable com.apple.photostream-agent
launchctl remove com.apple.photostream-agent


This does not stop macOS from loading it next time you reboot your mac. So to prevent it from loading next time, I've also hidden it from the OS.

cd /Applications/Aperture.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems
sudo mv PhotoStreamAgent.app PhotoStreamAgent.app.disabled
sudo chmod 700 PhotoStreamAgent.app.disabled


That was it.

Independent watchOS Apps

Speaking of watchOS apps, it looks like developing a full fledged application running entirely on watchOS is not yet possible: there is no networking to speak of on watchOS. 😔

If you need anything beyond basic HTTP or CloudKit, the only option is to use WatchConnectivity framework to funnel all networking through the extension running on the iPhone. 😢

The only hope is that it will be added in the future.