Hello, I made an audio VST/AU plugin and need to get a development signing certification. But before I pull the trigger and pay for Apple Developer Program Membership, I want to make sure I'll be able to do the actual signing/certification process on my older computer, which is currently running 10.14 (I can go up to 10.15 max). I looks like the process is done online, and with Keychain Access. However, my computer might be too old to use Xcode and Apple Developer. Is that going to be an issue? Thanks.

Yesterday I sent an audio .AU plugin to a beta tester. It was packaged in a .pkg installer that was code-signed, notarized, and stapled. I sent it to them via Google Drive. The tester reported that it installed okay. But when they try to open an instance of the plugin in Logic, they got an error saying: "Load Plugin Error. Failed to load plug-in: detected corrupted plug-in data." followed by a message saying to contact the manufacturer. The plugin loads fine on my end (we are both using Logic, M1 native, OS 12.6.3). My best guess is that Google Drive did a virus scan and that somehow caused Gatekeeper to reject the file (although it still allowed the tester to install it as if everything was normal). I then sent the exact same file to the tester via another method (not Google Drive) and the plugin loads fine, as expected. This is the second time I've experienced something like this with the newer Macs rejecting an otherwise valid file seemingly because it was loaded onto Google Drive. Any ideas what's going on here? Should Google Drive be off-limits for my plugins? Like, I'd need to tell my users that the plugin might not work if they ever put it on Google Drive? Thanks.

I get that Mac wants to keep users safe, but -- for the love of god -- at least give the option to "allow anyway" and let the user override gatekeeper and make the final call for themself. It's aggravating that I can't even run code I wrote myself that I know for a fact isn't malicious. I want to be able to make the decision myself whether to run, even if gatekeeper doesn't like it.