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Comment by enragedcacti | Hacker News Reader

it isn't really a local shell. As they describe it, it's an x86 interpreter, and therefore all of the code you run is sandboxed and isolated from the OS the same way as a Python interpreter would be. Python would let you make a network request, pull code down, and exec() it, so this doesn't really seem that different.

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The wording of the app store guideline is here:

>https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#sof...

>Educational apps designed to teach, develop, or allow students to test executable code may, in limited circumstances, download code provided that such code is not used for other purposes.

"in limited circumstances", "provided that such code is not used for other purposes". This is worded generically enough that they can pretty much ban anything that downloads code with it. They also have this:

>Such apps must make the source code provided by the Application completely viewable and editable by the user.

Arguably, allowing a user to download binary code instead of source code is expressly banned.

While it would be nice if apple took the stick out of their ass for once, I can't say I'm surprised by this development.

How does one know that they will comply with a rule like that? Do they

1. Build the app first and hope for the best (this seems to happen a lot)

2. Get some type of preliminary approval by Apple so they don't sink all the money into building the app if it won't be?

Likely option 1. In my experience, App Review will not entertain any sort of "preliminary approval" but you could theoretically submit a less polished version of the app to test the waters.

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