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I have a strange problem, some apps that I download do not launch. There are 2 scenarios

  1. The application starts but keeps bouncing, once I click the bouncing icon in the tray it disappears. The process also closes in activity monitor

  2. The application fails to start, how ever many times I launch it, it refuses. The process does not even show up in activity monitor

What I have done so far to resolve:

  • Repaired permissions
  • Clear all cache/temp using CleanMyMac
  • Used DiskWarrior via OS and not during boot

Additional Info:

 Model Name:    MacBook Pro
  Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,2
  Processor Name:   Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:  2.8 GHz
  Number of Processors: 1
  Total Number of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache: 6 MB
  Memory:   8 GB
  Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version: MBP52.008E.B05
  SMC Version (system): 1.42f4
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Something interesting in the system log in Console.app? – Daniel Beck♦ May 24 '12 at 6:52
Try to remove the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute from the applications in Terminal. Maybe there's a problem with the dialog usually asking for permission to run downloaded software. – Daniel Beck♦ May 24 '12 at 6:53
I got this in the log: ([0x0-0x9f19f1].com.fiplab.facetabpro[12505]): posix_spawn("/Applications/MenuTab Pro for Facebook.app/Contents/MacOS/MenuTab Pro for Facebook", ...): Permission denied May 24 00:05:03 kps-MacBook-Pro com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[141] ([0x0-0x9f19f1].com.fiplab.facetabpro[12505]): Exited with code: 1 – KPS May 24 '12 at 7:05
these are the permissions: drwxr-xr-x 3 kps staff 102 Dec 31 15:00 MenuTab Pro for Facebook.app – KPS May 24 '12 at 7:08
Please post ls -le@ output. – Daniel Beck♦ May 24 '12 at 7:10
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3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

The actual executable, /Applications/MenuTab Pro for Facebook.app/Contents/MacOS/MenuTab Pro for Facebook doesn't have the execute permission. Resolve by running:

sudo chmod +x '/Applications/MenuTab Pro for Facebook.app/Contents/MacOS/MenuTab Pro for Facebook'

Additionally, parts of the application have the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute set, as determined by ls -l@. Remove as described in this other topic. This shouldn't be an issue, but you never know. It sometimes prevents applications from being started from the command line.

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up vote 0 down vote

Usually when that happens could be one of this two reasons:

  • The application doesn't support Intel Mac (only power pc)

  • The application doesn't support Lion

Have you checked if the applications you are trying to run are for Intel Mac and Lion?

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A Google search reveals the app is in the Mac App Store... – Daniel Beck♦ May 24 '12 at 7:38
So the app is supported on Lion and this is not the only app that I am having issues with, it just so happens it was available for me to post info about. – KPS May 24 '12 at 20:42
When I cd into the .app this is the attributes: Lalys-MacBook-Pro:contents laly$ ls -le@ total 16 drwxr-xr-x 5 laly staff 170 Dec 31 15:00 Frameworks -rw-r--r--@ 1 laly staff 1840 Dec 31 15:00 Info.plist com.apple.quarantine 15 drwxr-xr-x 3 laly staff 102 Dec 31 15:00 Library drwxr-xr-x 3 laly staff 102 Dec 31 15:00 MacOS -rw-r--r--@ 1 laly staff 8 Dec 31 15:00 PkgInfo com.apple.quarantine 15 drwxr-xr-x 67 laly staff 2278 Dec 31 15:00 Resources drwxr-xr-x 3 laly staff 102 Dec 31 15:00 _CodeSignature – KPS May 25 '12 at 3:56
up vote 0 down vote

For the records: the application The Unarchiver may cause this issue.

Version 3.2: * Added a workaround for a sandbox bug in Mac OS X that was causing extracted apps to not launch properly.

Check this thread in Apple Support Communities.

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