We performed a major server upgrade on 25 August 2024 which led to some older Mac’s (OSX 11 or earlier) having problems accessing the BeerSmithRecipes.com web server and also the activation server. Since I’ve had several questions about this in the last few weeks I thought I should post the fix here.

Unfortunately many older Mac OSX 10.x versions have an old version of openSSL dating from 2017 or earlier, which can’t properly validate new SSL certificates for the current web site, and these versions of OSX are no longer being updated by Apple. There is a fix which involves updating the trusted certificate list for the SSL stack (just one file actually):

You can do this from the file finder on the Mac but you need admin permissions:

• Save this attached cert.pem file off to someplace like your Desktop
• Open the Apple File Finder (normal file manager)
• On the Go menu->Go To Folder…
• In the dialog type “/etc/ssl” without the quotes and press OK
• This should take you to the /etc/ssl directory which has the old “cert.pem” file in it.
• You can drag the old cert.pem (in that directory) somewhere else (like your documents folder) if you want to keep a backup copy (not required)
• Then try dragging the new cert.pem (one I sent you) into that folder and overwrite the one that is there
• It will likely ask for a password as that is a protected directory (you need admin permissions)
• If that works try restarting BeerSmith

Note: the “cert.pem” file linked above was extracted from Mozilla Firefox dated 24 Sep 2024. Some users may wish to get a updated version. Libcurl publishes an update periodically here. If you wish to export your own list from a trusted browser or a newer Mac there are sites online describing how to do so.

Thanks,

Brad Smith, BeerSmith.com