On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 6:01 PM, Tom Murphy
0) Distributing non-Cocoa-built apps, even if you're approved by Apple
Do you just mean binaries that you expect users run under /usr/local/bin or something, not app bundles? If that's the case, I cannot say if the same restrictions will apply. From my reading on the issue though, in the case of an app bundle, is that you don't have to be 'approved' per se by Apple. By having a Developer ID, you have a key you can then sign your binaries with. A binary signed with a valid key from Apple will run on any OS X machine, provided the Gatekeeper settings allow it - should that app later be discoverd as malware, or the *key* is used to sign some other piece of malware (because maybe it got stolen,) they just blacklist your key and no users can then run it. As a result, none of your applications you distribute outside of the Mac App Store have to be 'approved' - you just need to sign the binaries with your key before distributing them. It's blacklisting based, not whitelisted.
1) Writing software for widespread use (a security setting is to only run software from the App Store, and I'd like to have my software function on users' computers.)
Settings like this are beyond your control, it's just a fact of life. This basically affects every single thing that *isn't* in the Mac App Store, and if users decide to enable this, there's nothing you can really do other than telling them to change gatekeeper settings. Users can always over-ride this on a temporary, per-app basis, by holding control and clicking on the binary instead.
1.0) Aren't you unable to put software under the GPL or certain other open-source licenses on the App Store?
Someone more familiar with the AS on Mac/iOS will have to comment here. I'm fairly certain the iOS store does not do GPL'd applications, but I don't know about the Mac App Store. -- Regards, Austin