Apple circumvents DTrace open source utility

uses for such a tool, and Apple's including it was a nice touch, but I doubt Apple intentionally breaks Dtrace for use in applications that havn't "opted out" of tracing. Dtrace is a nice tool for legitimate developers, but arguably also a nice tool for less noble ends. Apple certainly has a right to opt out certain applications from Dtrace, and I'm sure that the side effects noted are bugs introduced by Apple's opting out. It could be that Dtrace has a hole in it's logic that allows anti-tracing flags to prevent other non-related probes to fail. Don't know. Seems like an issue between the Dtrace developers and Apple.

The blog post pointed to by the article could just be posturing to get more attention on the problem, rightly or wrongly. Don't know if the developer/s had much dialog with Apple regarding the problem. It appears from the MacWorld article that there is a workaround available, and my guess is that Apple will provide a fix for this eventually...

Sounds like it's simply another side-effect of Apple being required to enforce DRM? If Dtrace for "less than noble ends" (ie, helping to crack the DRM), then it may be a case of you get limited Dtrace functionality or none at all. Either you let Apple limit the capability of the tool in order to protect the DRM software, or you get no tool at all.

someone can port it again since it is open source

The problem with the default Leopard dtrace is that any program can now can hide itself from tracing, including viruses, trojans, and rootkits.

Security researchers and anti-virus companies now have a more difficult job trying to detect malware on users' computers.

The workaround is simple - someone should release a version of dtrace that bypasses Apple's changes.

jalb wrote: he problem with the default Leopard dtrace is that any program can now can hide itself from tracing, including viruses, trojans, and rootkits.

Exactly which viruses, trojans, and rootkits would those be?

It may be the case, but, again, Apple makes no such information available. They never explain why (let alone even tell people such a case). They just stick it in there, see if anyone notices, and go on from there.

They could just put in the developer's note: "DTrace does not work with iTunes or Quicktime, so do not run those programs when you actually expect DTrace to work correctly". Then again, if you're software that you're working on uses Quicktime or iTunes, you're screwed.

But that's not Apple's fault. It's those damned labels and studios! They're the ones to blame for everything!