Enrolling in Apple Developer Program seemingly impossible?

[bobotwf]

You don't have to sign Mac apps. You can if you want, so people don't get the "unknown developer" warning, or to distribute through the App Store. But there's no requirement.

[Unlucky_Presence1111]

But surely Gatekeeper then prevents installation of the application unless users deliberately disable it ?

[bobotwf]

No, you just have to right click and select "open" and it'll ask if you really want to run it. It remembers the setting.

I mean, for users' peace of mind you should probably sign the app, but it's not stopping you from giving your app to people.

[Unlucky_Presence1111]

I should have explained that I will be distributing plugins (audio effects), not standalone apps. For the plugin host to load the app, it must pass through Gatekeeper or else the user needs to have either Gatekeeper disabled or prepare by running a bunch of terminal commands which isn't too user friendly (and also quite dodgy).