Problem reported by user - app won't start - any ideas?

[MISV]

Hi,

I have a report from a user reporting my app will not start

1) If user creates a new admin account he can download and run my software just fine in /Applications.

2) If user uses main account (and has scanned for malware) he can not run my software even if a fresh download etc.

The software simply does not open.

The software is signed. I have not had other reports like this ever.

I am thinking it could be a file access issue of some sorts, but... Well... Is there any log I can ask user to send?

[Igor Kokarev]

Do you have another Mac to test your app?

If not, try to create a new user account on your Mac and run your app.

In case of such problems, we add logs (control points) to see when the app fails.

[ChrisR]

1. Does the user have a M1 CPU, and is this a x86-64 or does the binary include a version compiled for ARM? Be aware that Apple's restrictions are stricter for ARM executables than x86-64 executables (even those translated to run on ARM):
  http://www.rahulgaitonde.org/blog/2020/11/12/apple-m1-and-the-ultimate-closed-system-part-1/

2. Beyond code signing, did you notarize the dmg or pkg? I distribute command line applications as notarized pkg files and graphical applications as notarized dmg files. Here is a minimal version of my pkg notarization script
  https://github.com/neurolabusc/NotarizeFPC
if you want, I can create an example for dmg notarization.

3. An easy way to test how macOS sees a downloaded file is to create a Github repository and create a release. You can then attach your dmg/pkg to the release and download it to your own computer. You computer will see this as something that came from the web. I presume that you can have a similar effect by downloading a dmg/pkg from GoogleDrive/DropBox/etc... Just make sure that you test with a DTK/M1 if you are testing a Arm/universal executable, as Apple sets tighter restrictions.

[MISV]

It is both signed and notarized 64bit x86-64

.zip file containing .app file ...

I have tested it on my own computer download from we (thank you for script link. I am hoping to automate my building some day)

I will try create anew Mac user account and report back

[MISV]

Okay so I created a standard user account


Looking at my /Applications folder my own .app  now has no icon and double clicking it gives error

"There is no application to open the document "xyz name"."

That was quite puzzling. But I deleted and downloaded signed/notarized my .zip (containing .app) again. Moving it to /application required admin approval so I did that...

But otherwise... It looks and works normal now using standard account.

...

Using macOS 10.15.7

[Jonas Maebe]

You can ask the user to check in Console -> User Reports to see whether there's a report about your program.

[MISV]

I just got extended information

When the user tries to start my program it does not show with "dot" in the dock bar (albeit the icon appears there) - the user sent me a screenshot of it... So it would appear the app is not even launched... or it exists very quickly...?

In console.app searching for my program name yields zero results (again user sent screenshot)

[Jonas Maebe]

They can try launching from the command line, then anything normally written to the system logs will appear in the Terminal window instead:
1) change to the directory that contains application bundle (cd /Applications)
2) start the program: ./Name.App/Contents/MacOS/Name

[MISV]

Thank you, I have forward the suggestion.


By the way, is this normal, I did what you suggest on my own install just to see:

I discovered that when the software is downloaded/installed by a "standard" user and I then try your suggestion from my admin account I get error:

zsh: permission denied: ./Example.app/Contents/MacOS/Example

(this error does not happen if same account downloads/installs/runs /Application.Example.app)

[MISV]

upodate coming

[PascalDragon]

Missing space between cd and /Applications 

And ./Example.app/Contents/MacOS/Example should be run without the path change command in front of it...

[MISV]

Thank you. I was a bit stressed earlier but emailed back the user now