Cant run unsigned .app under macOS Big Sur 11.5

[anders-bogild]

Hi @greenonline

First of all thanks for porting serialplot. Its a great application that i've used on both linux and windows. I read your blog post and appreciate all the work you put in to it!

However i can't actually run it.
When double clicking serialplot.app i just get a dialog saying:

You do not have permission to open the application “serialplot.app”. Contact your computer or network administrator for assistance.

Right clicking and choosing "open" on the .app does not work either. I believe the problem is that the app bundle is not signed. It probably works on your machine because you compiled it your self.

After some very quick googling i stumbled upon this page: https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Code_Signing_for_macOS which talks about code signing on macOS.

I briefly tried to ad-hoc sign serialplot.app with the command
codesign --force --deep -s - serialplot.app

But i get the error:
serialplot.app: bundle format unrecognized, invalid, or unsuitable
In subcomponent: /Users/anders/Downloads/serialplot.app/Contents/Frameworks/QtPrintSupport.framework

I think anybody who tries to use the app bundle will have the same problem unless they disable macOS gatekeeper.

This can be done by executing in terminal:
sudo spctl --master-disable

Afterwards i can start serialplot.app (by right clicking, choosing open) but no window becomes visible. Only option is to force-quit.

For anybody experimenting with disabling gatekeeper please remember to enable it again with the command
sudo spctl --master-enable

[alexwhittemore]

FYI, I tried the same, but found a different conclusion - I had to chmod+x serialplot.app/Contents/MacOS/serialplot, as it wasn't executable yet distributed via .zip. After that, I COULD launch it, but it crashed immediately (I'm on 11.6)

[BoAnto]

Hi,
Thanks for the application and your complete tutorials
I also tried to launch the application on MacOS 12.1 and I get a different error message "unable to open SerialPlot application" and even following your recommendations the application fails to launch at all.

[greenonline]

Hi all, I have only just seen this issue.

I am sorry to hear that it isn't working for some of you. That is a shame.

I haven't touched this application since the initial commit, nor run it since the initial tests, as I've had no need to use it. However, I should be returning to the project that inspired me to port this in the first place, in the future, so I will fire up the Mac and hard disk that it was built on to see if I can reproduce and/or resolve these issues. However, please don't hold your breath.

Other notes:

• @anders-bogild - Yes, it probably wasn't signed. It's been a while, so I can't remember exactly, but I definitely only have a free Apple Dev account, and have not paid the $100+ (or whatever it is now) to allow signing. I even vaguely remember coming across this issue myself and thinking to myself that it wasn't worth paying the fee just to have a signed application. Hence, why I provided detailed steps so that others could compile it themselves.
• @alexwhittemore - yes, I was submitting the commits via the web UI, and I vaguely recall that there is no way to set the executable bit (IIRC, there is an issue about this on Stack Exchange/Stack Overflow). However, you mention the ZIP file, so that is probably a different issue. Thanks for pointing it out
• @BoAnto - Regarding the later versions of OS X (11 and 12), unfortunately, I only have very old MacBook Pros, which can only run up to Catalina, so I'll be unable to fix issues specific to those later OS versions, unfortunately. I only ever tested the application on High Sierra and (I think) Mountain Lion.