Old app Now Broke in Catalina

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xfratboy
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Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by xfratboy » Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:21 pm

I'm sure this is explained in places but I couldn't find specific answers so I will go forward with the question. I have an older program I developed for MacOS & Windows. It has worked fine until Catalina and now my users can not run the program if they have updated their Mac. All work arounds seem unable to override whatever Apple has done. I've re-compiled for 64bit (using Indy 9.51) and sent affected users the new .app bundle (via a download link from Dropbox), but they all get the same error: "The application 'my app name' can't be opened." Does this mean I can't distribute an app outside of the Apple approval system now? I've been out of the game for a while and I've never needed to become an official "developer" with Apple before ..but I can. Can someone point me in the right direction on how I can rapidly get my users back up in running on my old app? Also, I'm on a PC but deploy to Mac. What I'm reading about deploying an app to a Mac now seems scary and difficult. Can I even do this on a Windows machine? It almost seems like it can't even be done unless I own a Mac with the latest MacOS. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Klaus
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by Klaus » Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:27 pm

Maybe this thread is related to your problem?
https://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=33885

xfratboy
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by xfratboy » Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:38 pm

I looked over the thread and it seemed more of a rant about someone's dislikes with LC. A useful suggestion in the thread was to try and set the executable bit permission on the executable file within the bundle. Would I be able to do that from a windows PC anyway and then zip up the file and distribute to my users?

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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by Klaus » Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:01 pm

I looked over the thread and it seemed more of a rant about someone's dislikes with LC.
???
A useful suggestion in the thread was to try and set the executable bit permission on the executable file within the bundle. Would I be able to do that from a windows PC anyway and then zip up the file and distribute to my users?
Richard Gaskin's answer is quite clear to me:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Windows file system has no executable bit, but Unix systems like macOS
require the executable bit be set for a file to be able to run as a program.

Inside the Mac bundle of your standalone you'll find the actual executable file itself,
in the macos folder. You can change the permissions in the Get Info window for that file.
Once you turn on the executable permission it should run well.

When you build on a Mac the executable bit is set for you, but when building on Windows
it isn't possible because of the difference in the file systems.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by FourthWorld » Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:02 am

I don't think it's the exec bit, it sounds more like Apple's Catalina security requirements.

xfratboy, do you have a Mac yourself with Catalina on it to test with?
Richard Gaskin
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xfratboy
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by xfratboy » Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:24 am

I have a Mac but I'm scared to update. It's still on High Sierra. I suspected it is a Catalina security requirement I've been hearing about.

kdjanz
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by kdjanz » Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:52 am

I have a laptop with Catalina and an iMac that I am holding off on upgrading.

On the laptop, so far at least, I have been able to run all of the LiveCode programs I have been playing with by right clicking on the program and choosing Open from the menu. This takes me to the security area where I can force the Mac to accept the app as valid. Once I have done this for the initial run, I no longer have any issues and can double click to run normally.

Good luck and YMMV

xfratboy
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by xfratboy » Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:51 pm

No luck on Catalina 10.15.3. Just gives me the "Application can't be opened" dialog.

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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by FourthWorld » Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:10 pm

xfratboy wrote:
Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:51 pm
No luck on Catalina 10.15.3. Just gives me the "Application can't be opened" dialog.
Was the app built on Mac or Windows? It's possible that it's the exec bit, so you can either set that on the executable within the bundle or build fresh on your Mac.

That may not solve it, but will at least rule it out.
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by jacque » Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:46 pm

What you're seeing is Catalina's new requirement that apps be notarized and stapled. AppWrapper does this for you but you'd need a Mac to run it. There are other tools as well, but I think they all require Macs, as they use Mac specific shell calls.

There are semi-secret ways your users can open your app without notarization but it requires specific instructions they need to follow. I can look that up if you want, or do a Google search for "how to open unnotarized apps in Catalina".
Jacqueline Landman Gay | jacque at hyperactivesw dot com
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xfratboy
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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by xfratboy » Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:00 pm

Thanks. I've googled these semi-secret ways but none seemed to help. I welcome any semi-secret tips. I have not tried appWrappper but I can try.

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Re: Old app Now Broke in Catalina

Post by jacque » Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:00 pm

xfratboy wrote:
Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:00 pm
Thanks. I've googled these semi-secret ways but none seemed to help. I welcome any semi-secret tips. I have not tried appWrappper but I can try.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491
Scroll near the bottom where it explains how to look in System Prefs for a way to open the app.
Jacqueline Landman Gay | jacque at hyperactivesw dot com
HyperActive Software | http://www.hyperactivesw.com

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