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How to Symbolicate an Apple Silicon Panic?
Investigating a kernel panic, I discovered that Apple Silicon Panic traces are not working with how I know to symbolicate the panic information. I have not found proper documentation that corrects this situation. Attached file is an indentity-removed panic, received from causing an intentional panic (dereferencing nullptr), so that I know what functions to expect in the call stack. This is cut-and-pasted from the "Report To Apple" dialog that appears after the reboot: panic_1_4_21_b.txt To start, I download and install the matching KDK (in this case KDK_14.6.1_23G93.kdk), identified from this line: OS version: 23G93 Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 23.6.0: Mon Jul 29 21:14:04 PDT 2024; root:xnu-10063.141.2~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8122 Then start lldb from Terminal, using this command: bash_prompt % lldb -arch arm64e /Library/Developer/KDKs/KDK_14.6.1_23G93.kdk/System/Library/Kernels/kernel.release.t8122 Next I load the remaining scripts per the instructions from lldb: (lldb) settings set target.load-script-from-symbol-file true I need to know what address to load my kext symbols to, which I read from this line of the panic log, after the @ symbol: com.company.product(1.4.21d119)[92BABD94-80A4-3F6D-857A-3240E4DA8009]@0xfffffe001203bfd0->0xfffffe00120533ab I am using a debug build of my kext, so the DWARF symbols are part of the binary. I use this line to load the symbols into the lldb session: (lldb) addkext -F /Library/Extensions/KextName.kext/Contents/MacOS/KextName 0xfffffe001203bfd0 And now I should be able to use lldb image lookup to identify pointers on the stack that land within my kext. For example, the current PC at the moment of the crash lands within the kext (expected, because it was intentional): (lldb) image lookup -a 0xfffffe001203fe10 Which gives the following incorrect result: Address: KextName[0x0000000000003e40] (KextName.__TEXT.__cstring + 14456) Summary: "ffer has %d retains\n" That's not even a program instruction - that's within a cstring. No, that cstring isn't involved in anything pertaining to the intentional panic I am expecting to see. Can someone please explain what I'm doing wrong and provide instructions that will give symbol information from a panic trace on an Apple Silicon Mac? Disclaimers: Yes I know IOPCIFamily is deprecated, I am in process of transitioning to DriverKit Dext from IOKit kext. Until then I must maintain the kext. Terminal command "atos" provides similar incorrect results, and seems to not work with debug-built-binaries (only dSYM files) Yes this is an intentional panic so that I can verify the symbolicate process before I move on to investigating an unexpected panic I have set nvram boot-args to include keepsyms=1 I have tried (lldb) command script import lldb.macosx but get a result of error: no images in crash log (after the nvram settings)
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1.7k
Apr ’25
DriverKit USB Transport to support multiple devices with different Vendor IDs
I have two different USB devices with different vendor IDs I would like to connect to. I submitted two separate requests for the com.apple.developer.driverkit.transport.usb entitlement for each vendor ID. However I am noticing the provisioning profile only has one of the vendor IDs. How do I submit a request for the USB Transport entitlement to support more than one vendor ID? I'm new to writing a DriverKit driver, so is this even possible?
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1k
Dec ’24
Peripheral Devices control on macOS
We are looking for a solution (API, Frameworks) that would allow us to block any type of external device, including storage devices, HIDs, network adapters, and Bluetooth devices according with dynamic rules that comes from management server . This feature is important for endpoint security solutions vendors, and it can be implemented on other platforms and older versions of macOS using the IOKit framework and kexts. I have found one solution that can control the usage only of "storage" devices with the EndpointSecurity framework in conjunction with the DiskArbitration framework. This involves monitoring the MOUNT and OPEN events for /dev/disk files, checking for devices as they appear, and ejecting them if they need to be blocked.. Also, I have found the ES_EVENT_TYPE_AUTH_IOKIT_OPEN event in EndpointSecurity.framework, but it doesn't seem to be useful, at least not for my purposes, because ES doesn't provide AUTH events for some system daemons, such as configd (it only provides NOTIFY events). Furthermore, there are other ways to communicate with devices and their drivers apart from IOKit. DriverKit.framework does not provide the necessary functionality either, as it requires specific entitlements that are only available to certain vendors and devices. Therefore, it cannot be used to create universal drivers for all devices, which should be blocked. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
2
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691
Jun ’25
IOUSBHostInterface::Open for interrupt interfaces works on iPad Air but not iPad Pro
I am trying to open the CommunicationControl class IOUSBHostInterface in my USB driver, but it only seems to open on iPad Airs and not iPad Pros. I'm calling ivars->interruptInterface->Open(this, 0, NULL); After retrieving the interruptInterface from the device's InterfaceIterator. I try and open this, but on iPad Pros it returns kIOReturnNotOpen. I've tried closing and reopening the IOUSBHostDevice, closing and reopening the Interface, AbortDeviceRequests before opening, etc. but it just seems to work on iPad Air and not iPad Pro. I've tried on both iPadOS 17.6.1 and 18.2 Has anyone else seen this?
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638
Dec ’24
Driver build does not get updated during Development
Hey, I'currently working on a Driver (and its App) for iPadOS (USB Device). I think have the right entitlements, as my driver gets installed with the app properly (after accepting it in the settings). It also gets loaded once the device is plugged in and so on. However the Kernel is not using the updated Version after I install a new Version of App and Driver to the iPad (at least most of the times). I'm verifying this by reading out the Logs via Console and the Driver prints its Build number on Start(). Sometimes it works like it should but I found no pattern. As far as I understand the iPad should automatically install the new Version of the Driver with the new App if its Build is different from the current one. I'm incrementing the Build of App and Driver automatically post-build so each build the iPad gets has its own Build number (This also works). Steps to reproduce: Cleaning Xcode Build Folder Unplugging the USB Device from the iPad. Building and Installing a new Version of the Driver and the App via Xcode (making sure the build number has changed) Plugging the USB back into the iPad Reading Console output of the iPad However it works (each time if I: Uninstall the app from the iPad manually or via Devices in Xcode Build and install the App via Xcode Open the Settings App and activate the Driver But uninstalling the App each time is taking a lot of time and manual Steps so I would like to fix this issue. Do you have any Ideas? Thanks, Bjarne
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691
Dec ’24
DriverKit CppUserClient Searching for dext service but Failed opening service with error: 0xe00002c7
Hi Everybody, Follow Communicating between a DriverKit extension and a client app to migrate our kext to dext. The dext might have been loaded successfully by using the command systemextensionsctl list, the dext is loaded and enabled. % sectl list 1 extension(s) --- com.apple.system_extension.driver_extension enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state] * * K3TDMD9Y6B com.accusys.scsidriver (1.0/1) com.accusys.scsidriver [activated enabled] We try to use the CppUserClient.cpp to communicate with the dext, but can not get the dext service. The debug message as below: Failed opening service with error: 0xe00002c7. Here is the part of CppUserClient.cpp static const char* dextIdentifier = "com.accusys.scsidriver"; kern_return_t ret = kIOReturnSuccess; io_iterator_t iterator = IO_OBJECT_NULL; io_service_t service = IO_OBJECT_NULL; ret = IOServiceGetMatchingServices(kIOMasterPortDefault, IOServiceMatching("IOUserServer"), &iterator); printf("dextIdentifier = %s\n", dextIdentifier); printf("IOServiceNameMatching return = %d\n", ret); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { printf("Unable to find service for identifier with error: 0x%08x.\n", ret); PrintErrorDetails(ret); } printf("Searching for dext service...\n"); while ((service = IOIteratorNext(iterator)) != IO_OBJECT_NULL) { // Open a connection to this user client as a server to that client, and store the instance in "service" ret = IOServiceOpen(service, mach_task_self_, kIOHIDServerConnectType, &connection); if (ret == kIOReturnSuccess) { printf("\tOpened service.\n"); break; } else { printf("\tFailed opening service with error: 0x%08x.\n", ret); } IOObjectRelease(service); } IOObjectRelease(iterator); if (service == IO_OBJECT_NULL) { printf("Failed to match to device.\n"); return EXIT_FAILURE; } The console output message is dextIdentifier = com.accusys.scsidriver IOServiceNameMatching return = 0 Searching for dext service... Failed opening service with error: 0xe00002c7. Failed opening service with error: 0xe00002c7. Failed opening service with error: 0xe00002c7. Failed opening service with error: 0xe00002c7. Failed to match to device. Here is the log show message fredapp start UserInitializeController pcitest: fredapp pci vendorID: 14d6 deviceID: 626f fredapp nnnnnew configuaration read32 0x10 info: 1 fredapp nnnnnew configuaration read32 0x14 info: 80100004 fredapp new 128 before enable busmaster ReqMSGport_info 0x00000040 : fffff pcitest: fredapp 131 pci ConfigurationRead16 busmaster value 0 pcitest: fredapp 134 Enable BusMaster and IO space done...... locate 139 fredapp MemoryWrite32 function done...... fredapp new 143 after enable busmaster ReqMSGport_info 0x00000040 : 0 fredapp newwww before GetBARInfo memoryIndex1 info is: 5 fredapp GetBARInfo 1 kernel return status is: 0 fredapp GetBARInfo memoryIndex1 info is: 0 fredapp GetBARInfo barSize1 info is: 262144 fredapp GetBARInfo barType1 info is: 0 fredapp GetBARInfo result0 info is: 3758097136 fredapp GetBARInfo memoryIndex0 info is: 0 fredapp GetBARInfo barSize0 info is: 0 fredapp GetBARInfo barType0 info is: 0 pcitest: newwww fredapp againnnn test ReqMSGport info: 8 fredapp Start MPIO_Init_Prepare fredapp end MPIO_Init_Prepare. fredapp call 741 Total_memory_size: 1bb900 fredapp Start MemoryAllocationForAME_Module. fredapp IOBufferMemoryDescriptor create return status info is kIOReturnSuc fredapp IOBufferMemoryDescriptor virtualAddressSegment address info: 0x1 fredapp virtualAddressSegment length info: 0x00080000 fredapp end IOBufferMemoryDescriptor Create. fredapp dmaSpecification maxAddressBits: 0x00000000 fredapp dmaSpecification maxAddressBits: 0x00000027 fredapp IODMACommand create return status info is kIOReturnSuccess fredapp end IODMACommand Create. fredapp PrepareForDMA return status info is kIOReturnSuccess fredapp PrepareForDMA return status info is 0x00000000 fredapp Allocate memory PrepareforDMA return flags info: 0x00000003 fredapp Allocate memory PrepareforDMA return segmentsCount info: 0x00000 fredapp Allocate memory PrepareforDMA return physicalAddressSegment info: fredapp IOBufferMemoryDescriptor virtualAddressSegment address info-2: 0 fredapp verify data success init() - Finished. fredapp start UserGetDMASpecification fredapp end UserGetDMASpecification fredapp start UserMapHBAData fredapp end UserMapHBAData fredapp start UserStartController fredapp interruptType info is 0x00010000 fredapp PCI Dext interrupt final value return status info is 0x00000000 Any suggestions? Best Regards, Charles
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768
Jan ’25
Crash in IOService::Create
I am getting an unexpected crash from IOService::Create() when attempting to create a new user-client. The crash is a nullptr exception in OSCopyInObjects(). The last call from my code was IOService::Create(). As far as I can tell, all the input parameters to Create() are correct, and the Info.plist is has the correct key and class information - indeed, if I corrupt these I get an error status return rather than a crash. Any suggestions as to what could be causing this? I suspect that the problem may be related from a change in the underlying application that is creating the user client. This was modified from a standard app to a daemon, following the advice here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/signing-a-daemon-with-a-restricted-entitlement. However, it is the driver that crashes - not the host opening the user client.
1
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500
Jan ’25
howto measure time_interval since physical plugin of a USB-gadget ?
=1) The situation: 1A) I make both a "DExt" and a "SDK" for still-imaging-USB-gadgets and MACOS>=14 ,iPADOS>=17 1B) One of the USB-gadgets needs warm_up after PlugIn (i.e End-User-App must know "now-TheMomentOfPlugIn" with precision ~1sec). =2) The question is how to do "1B" rationally? =3) My speculative guess: in BSD-descendant I expect existence (somewhere) of a "normal file" through "macports etc", which has normal "file creation time". Such a "file creation time" (accessible better via IORegistryEntry... at SDK-level; possibly via IOUSBHostInterface at DExt-level) is cognitive target of mine. =4) Additional constraints: Technically absent. I freely modify code either DExt (descendant of IOUSBHostInterface) or SDK-level (IORegistryEntryGetRegistryEntryID, IORegistryEntry...)
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598
Feb ’25
Trouble using IOLog from a dext
Trying to use IOLog to print out a message from a dext. When I try to use IOLog, I get , though I did not or thought I did not tag it as private. I have tried to update the info.plist file for the dext according to https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/705810, but that has not helped, or perhaps I am not defining it correctly since it's a dext. Anyone else had this issue, and how did you fix it?
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600
Feb ’25
No logs from log stream | grep CompanyName
I have USB DriverKit driver. When I use the log command below to get log, there is logs from my driver on my own M-series MacBook where the driver is built using developer account. log stream | grep CompanyName But on other mac like (M-series) Mac Mini, there is no log captured from driver though the driver is communicating with the machine correctly. The only log captured are from MacOS regarding CompanyName driver status/unload/load. The MacOS is Sonoma 14.7.2 and 14.7.3. Please advise on how to get log from driver since writing to files is not allowed in DriverKit. I need logs to troubleshoot on Mac Mini. Thanks.
1
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480
Feb ’25
How to implement mouse (pointing) acceleration function in DriverKit?
Hello every one good day :) My project uses a mouse driver handling all events from the mouse produced by our company. In the past the driver is a kext, which implement acceleration by HIDPointerAccelerationTable, we prepare data in the driver's info.plist, while our app specifies a value to IOHIDSystem with key kIOHIDPointerAccelerationKey, the driver will call copyAccelerationTable() to lookup the HIDPointerAccelerationTable and return a value. In current DriverKit area, the process above is deprecated. Now I don't know to do. I've read some document: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hiddriverkit/iohidpointereventoptions/kiohidpointereventoptionsnoacceleration?changes=__7_8 https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hiddriverkit/kiohidmouseaccelerationtypekey?changes=__7_8 https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hiddriverkit/kiohidpointeraccelerationkey?changes=__7_8 but no any description in those articles. Please help!
6
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453
Jun ’25
Why UserInitializeTargetForID() not be invoked after UserCreateTargetForID() successfully?
Hello Everyone, I am trying to create a Fake SCSI target based on SCSIControllerDriverKit.framework and inherent from IOUserSCSIParallelInterfaceController, here is the code kern_return_t IMPL(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME, Start) { ... // Programmatically create a null SCSI Target SCSIDeviceIdentifier nullTargetID = 0; // Example target ID, adjust as needed ret = UserCreateTargetForID(nullTargetID, nullptr); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { Log("Failed to create Null SCSI Target for ID %llu", nullTargetID); return ret; } ... } According the document UserCreateTargetForID, after creating a TargetID successfully, the framework will call the UserInitializeTargetForID() The document said: As part of the UserCreateTargetForID call, the kernel calls several APIs like UserInitializeTargetForID which run on the default dispatch queue of the dext. But after UserCreateTargetForID created, why the UserInitializeTargetForID() not be invoked automatically? Here is the part of log show init() - Start init() - End Start() - Start Start() - try 1 times UserCreateTargetForID() - Start Allocating resources for Target ID 0 UserCreateTargetForID() - End Start() - Finished. UserInitializeController() - Start - PCI vendorID: 0x14d6, deviceID: 0x626f. - BAR0: 0x1, BAR1: 0x200004. - GetBARInfo() - BAR1 - MemoryIndex: 0, Size: 262144, Type: 0. UserInitializeController() - End UserStartController() - Start - msiInterruptIndex : 0x00000000 - interruptType info is 0x00010000 - PCI Dext interrupt final value, return status info is 0x00000000 UserStartController() - End Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance for your support. Best regards, Charles
1
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362
Mar ’25
Inconsistent KEXT Status Between System Information and kextstat
Hello Everyone, I have noticed an inconsistency in the KEXT status between the System Information Extensions section and the output of the kextstat command. In System Information, the extension appears as loaded: ACS6x: Version: 3.8.3 Last Modified: 2025/3/10, 8:03 PM Bundle ID: com.Accusys.driver.Acxxx Loaded: Yes Get Info String: ACS6x 3.8.4 Copyright (c) 2004-2020 Accusys, Ltd. Architectures: arm64e 64-Bit (Intel): No Location: /Library/Extensions/ACS6x.kext/ Kext Version: 3.8.3 Load Address: 0 Loadable: Yes Dependencies: Satisfied Signed by: Developer ID Application: Accusys, Inc (K3TDMD9Y6B) Issuer: Developer ID Certification Authority Signing time: 2025-03-10 12:03:20 +0000 Identifier: com.Accusys.driver.Acxxx TeamID: K3TDMD9Y6B However, when I check using kextstat, it does not appear as loaded: $ kextstat | grep ACS6x Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded No variant specified, falling back to release I use a script to do these jobs echo " Change to build/Release" echo " CodeSign ACS6x.kext" echo " Compress to zip file" echo " Notary & Staple" echo " Unload the old Acxxx Driver" echo " Copy ACS6x.kext driver to /Library/Extensions/" echo " Change ACS6x.kext driver owner" echo " Loaded ACS6x.kext driver" sudo kextload ACS6x.kext echo " Rebiuld system cache" sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel sudo kextcache -system-caches sudo kextcache -i / echo " Reboot" sudo reboot But it seems that the KEXT is not always loaded successfully. What did I forget to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Charles
2
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273
Mar ’25
Assistance Needed for Migrating KEXT Delay Code to DriverKit
Hello Everyone, I am working on migrating a KEXT to DriverKit but am struggling to resolve a specific issue. The code in question is simple, but I haven't been able to find a solution. void AME_IO_milliseconds_Delay(AME_U32 Delay) { Log("AME_IO_milliseconds_Delay()"); IOSleep(Delay); return; } //delay for a number of microseconds void AME_IO_microseconds_Delay(AME_U32 Delay) { Log("AME_IO_microseconds_Delay()"); IODelay(Delay); return; } I've sought help from Copilot and ChatGPT, but their suggestions haven't worked. Any guidance on how to implement this functionality in DriverKit would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and assistance. Best regards, Charles
1
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233
Mar ’25
CoreAudio server plugin: propagate kAudioObjectPropertyName change
When my virtual CoreAudio server plugins propagates a change to it´s device name the CoreAudio system does not seem to reflect the change. My user mode application subscribes to the property change and receives the change though. I also alternatively submitted a kAudioObjectPropertyName change with the same effect. Is this possible at all and what needs to be done then? Are there restrictions about which properties can be successfully changed and are reflected by the system? Any hint is highly appreciated! Thanks
1
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63
Mar ’25
How to setup DriverKit Timer Event with OSAction Callback Binding
Hello Everyone, I'm encountering an issue while setting up a timer event in DriverKit and would appreciate any guidance. Here's my current implementation: void DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::SetupEventTimer() { // 1. Create dispatch queue kern_return_t ret = IODispatchQueue::Create("TimerQueue", 0, 0, &ivars->dispatchQueue); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to create dispatch queue: 0x%x", ret); return; } // 2. Create timer source ret = IOTimerDispatchSource::Create(ivars->dispatchQueue, &ivars->dispatchSource); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to create timer: 0x%x", ret); OSSafeReleaseNULL(ivars->dispatchQueue); return; } /*! * @brief Create an instance of OSAction. * @discussion Methods to allocate an OSAction instance are generated for each method defined in a class with * a TYPE attribute, so there should not be any need to directly call OSAction::Create(). * @param target OSObject to receive the callback. This object will be retained until the OSAction is * canceled or freed. * @param targetmsgid Generated message ID for the target method. * @param msgid Generated message ID for the method invoked by the receiver of the OSAction * to generate the callback. * @param referenceSize Size of additional state structure available to the creator of the OSAction * with GetReference. * @param action Created OSAction with +1 retain count to be released by the caller. * @return kIOReturnSuccess on success. See IOReturn.h for error codes. */ // 3: Create an OSAction for the TimerOccurred method // THIS IS WHERE I NEED HELP OSAction* timerAction = nullptr; ret = OSAction::Create(this, 0, 0, 0, &timerAction); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to create OSAction: 0x%x", ret); goto cleanup; } // 4. Set handler ret = ivars->dispatchSource->SetHandler(timerAction); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to set handler: 0x%x", ret); goto cleanup; } // 5. Schedule timer (1 second) uint64_t deadline = mach_absolute_time() + NSEC_PER_SEC; ivars->dispatchSource->WakeAtTime(0, deadline, 0); cleanup: if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { OSSafeReleaseNULL(timerAction); OSSafeReleaseNULL(ivars->dispatchSource); OSSafeReleaseNULL(ivars->dispatchQueue); } } Problem: The code runs but the OSAction callback binding seems incorrect (Step 3). According to the OSAction documentation, I need to use the TYPE macro to properly bind the callback method. But I try to use TYPE(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::TimerOccurred) kern_return_t TimerOccurred() LOCALONLY; TYPE(TimerOccurred) kern_return_t TimerOccurred() LOCALONLY; kern_return_t TimerOccurred() TYPE(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::TimerOccurred) LOCALONLY; All results in Out-of-line definition of 'TimerOccurred' does not match any declaration in 'DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME' Questions: What is the correct way to declare a timer callback method using TYPE? How to get the values targetmsgid & msgid generated by Xcode? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Best Regards, Charles
6
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326
Apr ’25
Does USB Audio in macOS support 12 channels with 16bit PCM samples?
I have a custom USB Audio Class 2 (UAC2) compatible device. When I connect this custom device to a MacBook with a configuration of up to 10 channels (16-bit), everything seems to work fine. However, when I increase the channel count to 12, the MacBook does not recognize the 12 channels. It only shows the channel count as 0. TN2274 is the only source where I found some information about Apple's Audio Class Drivers, but it doesn't mention any limitations regarding channel counts. Could you let me know the current limitations of the Audio Class Drivers on the latest macOS versions? What configuration should I use to get 12 channels working? P.S. I also found that a 12-channel, 8-bit configuration is detected by the MacBook, bit I want it to work with 16bits. For more detail please check FB17098863
6
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206
Apr ’25