XBoard for Mac: failure to launch

[sje]

XBoard for Mac: failure to launch under OS/X 10.7

I recently downloaded the XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel disk image to give XBoard for Mac a try. I was able to get get XBoard to launch from the mounted disk image. But after copying the XBoard application to the machine's Applications folder, the copied Xboard failed to launch.

Something related to the configuration file?

Any ideas?

[zullil]

XBoard for Mac: failure to launch under OS/X 10.7

I recently downloaded the XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel disk image to give XBoard for Mac a try. I was able to get get XBoard to launch from the mounted disk image. But after copying the XBoard application to the machine's Applications folder, the copied Xboard failed to launch.

Something related to the configuration file?

Any ideas?

Launches correctly for me, both from the mounted dmg and after being copied to Applications.

Maybe try opening from command line in Terminal with

Code: Select all

/Applications/XBoard.app/Contents/MacOS/XBoard

This might provide some info about what is (or is not) happening.

OS X 10.7.5
Grabbed the app from http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/54918/xboard/download

[sje]

Code: Select all

gail:~ sje$ /Applications/XBoard.app/Contents/MacOS/XBoard
XBoard
/Applications/XBoard.app/Contents/MacOS
/Applications/XBoard.app/Contents/MacOS/XBoard: line 73: /Applications/XBoard.app/Contents/MacOS/XBoard-bin: No such file or directory

[sje]

Code: Select all

gail:Downloads sje$ md5 XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel.dmg
MD5 (XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel.dmg) = d8545502c79ed88790bc974de45cfb50

[zullil]

Code: Select all

gail:Downloads sje$ md5 XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel.dmg
MD5 (XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel.dmg) = d8545502c79ed88790bc974de45cfb50

Code: Select all

ProcyonLeo-2: ~/Downloads] md5 XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel.dmg 
MD5 (XBoard_4.8.0d_OSX_Intel.dmg) = d8545502c79ed88790bc974de45cfb50

Not the issue!

[sje]

Case sensitivity problem located

It looks like Xboard was never tested on a Mac with a case-sensitive filesystem.

Temporary kludge:

Code: Select all

cd /Applications/XBoard.app/Contents/MacOS
ln -s xboard-bin XBoard-bin

[zullil]

a Mac with a case-sensitive filesystem.

This is an option? Set/created how?

[sje]

a Mac with a case-sensitive filesystem

This is an option? Set/created how?

The CS flag can be set with the Disk Utility program at filesystem creation time. This has been an option for many years.

[mar]

The CS flag can be set with the Disk Utility program at filesystem creation time. This has been an option for many years.

Yes I too was surprised that Mac defaults to case-insensitive FS. IIRC this can be defined per partition, resulting in (potentially) huge mess.
The problem with Mac xboard should be trivial to fix though.

I admit I hate case-insensitive filesystems. The worst thing ever invented.

In order to cosider two filenames the same you have to use the same translation tables the OS uses (=using API),

needless to say (Microsoft) doesn't honor Unicode and that Unicode has some bugs in case folding (see small greek sigma used at the end of words).

Even more disastrous than backslashes on Windows

[JoshPettus]

ah... Oops. Yes, my system isn't case sensitive as are most I imagine. It is the default, and to me sensative just seems to be asking for trouble somewhere down the road. That said, It should still work. Thanks for letting me know. I hope it's as simple as an edit of the /Xboard.app/Contents/MacOS/xboard. (open it with a text editor and line 73) I'll see if I can take a look at it when I get home.

Hopefully the launch command is the only thing effected... What about other elements? Do all the textures appear? Do you see the OSX style gtk theme? or is it default gtk theme? If your system is non-engish, does it find the localization files? I prey yes to all of these.