Mac: Browse with Photo Mechanic

[Sven]

Hi Kirk, hi Team!

I set up my new MacBook Air (late 2011) with ML 10.8.2 and PM 5 build 13444.
PM runs fine and I also copied the "Browse with PM"-Service to ~/Library/Services.
Opening the finder, selecting a folder, option-click this folder and selecting "Browse with PM" kills the finder (have to use kill and restart) after the dialog that this app was not signed.
Opening the service-file manually out of the finder with option-click and select open does also not solve the problem but keeps the finder running.
Also adjusting to open any apps in the system settings - general does not work.
I also tried moving the .service-file to /Library/Services without any success.
PM.log does not show any issues.

Any suggestions?

Sven

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Sven,

Weird, for me it worked fine so far. So likely there's something with your system. Have you tried checking your disk and repairing permissions yet?

Have you made any changes to your system lately?

Hope we can get this solved for you…

[Sven]

Hi Hayo!

New MB Air, newly installed ML 10.8.2...

Install-Order:
PM 5, Capture One and after that the Browser service.

On my MB Pro all is well...
Strange...

Sven

[Sven]

OK, some more investigation:

ls -lsa in ~/Library/Services

Code: [Select]

0 drwxr-xr-x@  3 sven  staff   102 3 Jul 04:02 BrowseWithPMService.service

ls -la@

Code: [Select]

drwxr-xr-x@  3 sven  staff   102 3 Jul 04:02 BrowseWithPMService.service
com.apple.quarantine   57

It seems that ML forgets to delete this extended attribute. It comes from the "This application was downloaded..." message.
Even opening the service manually and accepting the message does not remove it.

Removing the extended attribute manually via

Code: [Select]

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine 'BrowseWithPMService.service'does not help but gets the extended attribute removed.

Sven

[Sven]

One more thing:

I checked the file on the working MB Pro and this file had NO extended attributes.
Following steps done:
- removed the service on the MB Air
- compressed the service from the MB Pro
- copied to the MB Air
- extracted it and copied the file to ~/Library/Services
- rebooted MB Air

result: same as before

[Kirk Baker]

Sven,

One more thing:

I checked the file on the working MB Pro and this file had NO extended attributes.
Following steps done:
- removed the service on the MB Air
- compressed the service from the MB Pro
- copied to the MB Air
- extracted it and copied the file to ~/Library/Services
- rebooted MB Air

result: same as before

Do you see any messages related to the time you attempt to use the service in the console or system logs?

-Kirk

[Sven]

Hi Kirk!

No, nothing.

Sven

[Kevin M. Cox]

I saw this problem last night on my brand new MBP w/ 10.8.2 and it took about 15 minute of fiddling around to make it start working.

I honestly can't remember what combination finally made it start working, but it was a combination of right-click/Open the file in the Services folder along with afterwards Control or Option (don't remember which) clicking the context menu to let me manually select Photo Mechanic 5 as the program to open.

It took a little while and the Finder froze up several times while trying to get it sorted out.

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Sven,

Kevin's message reminded me of the similar issue I had with the service not working for me after a clean install of my system. At that time I thought that it had to do with the disk with the old os install still being in my computer. But hearing you, I guess it wasn't and that it is a generic problem.

My guess now is that the service out of the box tries to open the wrong program (I think actually PM4.6.9) but that doesn't work of course.  Anyway as Kevin suggested I fixed the issue by opening the service whilst holding the option key (I think it was that) and then selecting the right program to open. This all from memory, but I'm sure Kirk can correct me here 

For Kirk it is also to verify if the base install of the PM service indeed needs adjusting to prevent these kind of issues in the future…

[Sven]

Hi Kevin, hi Hayo!

I am still stuck and I am not getting this thing up and running.
Sven

[Kirk Baker]

Sven,

I am still stuck and I am not getting this thing up and running.

I don't know how it is possible that it kills the Finder.  I would expect some sort of messages related to the Finder or the service to appear in the system or console log (perhaps on startup only) if there were a problem starting the service.

I could build a logging version of the service that would at least let us know if the service is starting up and is being executed.  Let me know if you're interested.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Sven]

Kirk,

I'd really like to help out...
If you find the time to build a logging version I am happy to run it....

Sven

[Hayo Baan]

I hope to get an SSD for my laptop soon and will do a complete clean OS and software install on it. Perhaps I can reproduce the issue then.

[Sven]

Hayo,

I did a clean reinstall yesterday, too...

Same results.

Sven

[Hayo Baan]

Sven, Kirk,

I've just finished a clean install of Mountain Lion on my MacBook Pro. This included a clean install of PM5 and the service "browse with PM." I can now fully describe the issue at hand as well as the workaround/solution.

Issue is simply that out of the box, the "Browse with PM" service does not work even though it shows up as an option in the Finder. I'm pretty sure it is because the service is referring to the wrong path for the application. Kirk, if this is indeed the case, I think you guys should be able to solve this easily.

Awaiting that more permanent fix, this is how you solve it yourself: open the contextual menu in the finder and instead of normal clicking, hold the alt key while clicking the "Browse with PM" option. This will present you with a dialogue box asking you to locate your version of PM. Select the application, and all should work again.

Hope this helps,
Hayo