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I understand that JLink loads each time Mathematica launches or each time a kernel starts, and that this can require permission from the firewall, if it is enabled

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but OS X provides settings the provide this permission by default, so that I don't have to provide it each time Mathematica starts (a process that seems to cause delays and even crashes Mathematica in some cases). However, even if I give this permission, I still get asked for it again, each time.

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Mathematica is is the only application on my system that does this. Why? Is there some way to configure Mathematica so that it behaves as it should; or is this a bug? What does Mathematica need "incoming network connections" for anyway? Can turn off the need for them in Mathematica somewhere?

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  • Related or possibly duplicate: http://mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/8422/any-way-to-prevent-mac-firewall-from-asking-to-allow-connections-all-the-time – cormullion Nov 21 '12 at 19:42
  • @cormullion: Very drastic solutions. I wonder if there are others (e.g., within Mathematica disabling whatever is requiring incoming connections in the first place). – orome Nov 21 '12 at 20:13
  • You can block all access to the internet from within mma by setting $AllowInternet (or PacletManager`$AllowInternet if not loaded) to False. However, you won't be able to use the curated data, W|A, free form input, etc. – rm -rf Nov 21 '12 at 21:34
  • @rm-rf: What about just incoming connections? – orome Nov 21 '12 at 21:42
  • Mathematica is made up of several MathLink programs: the kernel, the front end, J/Link, the subkernels, whatever else you install... and clearly for each outgoing connection the partner program needs to accept an incoming one. As to what these messages mean and how to stop them, I don't know... I don't use a Mac. However, you should definitely check what subnets you are allowing connections from. Letting anyone on the Internet connect to you would not be a good idea. – Oleksandr R. Nov 22 '12 at 02:37
  • Just for reference, the same has cropped up on the mailing list, but nobody seems to know a solution. I also see this problem, but only on a desktop Mac at the office, not on my laptop. I included this link because in the future an answer may appear there... – Jens Nov 22 '12 at 07:51
  • @raxacoricofallapatorius I don't think it's a question of actually making connections. I just checked and no component of mathematica accepted connections from outside (in 20-30min of logging); things like searching in help do connecto to wolfram servers, but it's an outgoing connection. In short, I think it's an artifact of how the OS X application firewall does things (perhaps only for "unsigned" applications but I do not know much about that). – acl Nov 22 '12 at 12:46
  • @Jens I see the problem on my MacBook Pro, but not on my iMac at work. Both run the same version of OSX and the same version of Mma. – JxB Nov 22 '12 at 13:45

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