mas: 🐛 [BUG] mas uninstall does not work on macOS 11.1

Your Environment

mas version: 1.7.1
macOS version: 11.1

mas Install Method

brew install mas (homebrew-core)

Describe the Bug

mas uninstall [id] complains it needs root permissions to uninstall but sudo mas uninstall [id] says the app is not installed.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Install an app; mas install [id]
Uninstall the app with sudo mas uninstall [id]

Expected Behavior

Moves the app to the Trash Bin

Actual Behavior

It will say: Error: not installed

Screenshots, Terminal Output

Additional Context

None

About this issue

Original URL
State: open
Created 3 years ago
Reactions: 23
Comments: 16

Commits related to this issue

feat(functions): add mas uninstall lucky Still won't work because of https://github.com/mas-cli/mas/issues/313 but maybe it is fixed somehow in the future ... — committed to jscheytt/dotfiles by jscheytt a year ago

Most upvoted comments

Works with sudo -s if that helps anyone, but things end up in root’s trash:

==> App moved to trash: /private/var/root/.Trash/Telegram.app

philsherry on Mar 31, 2021

same issue on:

macOS 12.0.1 (21A559)
mas 1.8.5

mas uninstall 408981434 
Warning: Apps installed from the Mac App Store require root permission to remove.
Error: Unable to move app to trash.
Error: Uninstall failed

sudo mas uninstall 408981434
Error: Not installed

sudo -s mas uninstall 408981434
Error: Not installed

mas list
408981434   iMovie      (10.2.5)

JanOwiesniak on Nov 23, 2021

So mas hasn’t had an uninstall function in 3 years?

BitGrub on Mar 17, 2024

It’s a permission issue related to macOS’s security sandbox : When you use sudo, the command is ran with root privileges and in the root environment, but doesn’t have access to your user-specific App Store data. This is why the mas command is unable to see the installed apps and uninstall them. You can verify this by running mas list (will show your apps) and sudo mas list (will be empty).

To fix this, I’m afraid we’ll need something like a Privileged Helper Tool (https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Security/Conceptual/SecureCodingGuide/Articles/AccessControl.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007244-SW5). A working example of this can be found under “EvenBetterAuthorizationSample”.

Unfortunately I’m not experienced with Swift, otherwise I’d look into this, but that’s basically what’s going on.

claudiodekker on Jul 20, 2023

Same issue here, my mas’ version is 1.8.2 and macOS is 11.4.

baggiponte on Jun 3, 2021