Installing Android Developer Tools on macOS with brew: Overcoming Quarantine Restrictions

As a React Native developer, I recently found myself needing to install the android developer tools on my MacBook running macOS Catalina. After using the brew command to install the required tools, I was faced with a common issue that many developers encounter when installing command line tools on this operating system.

The problem arises due to the 'quarantine' attribute that macOS applies to downloaded binaries by default. This attribute tells the system not to run the software automatically until it has been explicitly approved by the user. While this is a security feature, it can be frustrating for developers who need to install and use unsigned code.

In my case, I needed to install both ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and OpenJDK, which are essential tools for React Native development. However, when I tried to run OpenJDK after installation using brew, I was presented with a warning stating that the developer could not be verified.

To overcome this issue, I used two methods to install and run these tools:

1. Open a folder containing ADB in Finder: By opening a Terminal window and navigating to the folder where ADB is located, I was able to right-click on the 'adb' executable and select 'Open' instead of double-clicking it. This allowed me to approve removing the quarantine attribute and run ADB without any issues.

2. Use Right Click -> Open when installing an app: When installing an app or a tool using brew, I found that I could bypass the quarantine restriction by right-clicking on the installer package and selecting 'Open' instead of double-clicking it.

In addition to these workarounds, I also used two specific brew commands to install ADB and OpenJDK:

`brew cask install android-platform-tools`

These commands allowed me to install the required tools without any issues.

Overall, while the quarantine restrictions on macOS can be frustrating for developers, there are simple workarounds that allow us to install and use unsigned code. By using these methods, I was able to successfully install and run ADB and OpenJDK on my MacBook running macOS Catalina.

Macos openjdk