Installing AltosUI on Mac OS X

Mac OS X places barriers to running software from outside of the Apple ecosystem on Apple hardware. Whenever you download softwarae, the browser tags the application as 'foreign' and that prevents the operating system from running it.

Here's how you can use xattr(1) to clear the protection setting from the AltosUI.app after it is installed.

  1. Display the application extended attributes:

     $ xattr -l /Applications/AltosUI.app
      com.apple.quarantine:
      0181;5a380dfb;Google\x20Chrome.app;6B17C3F9-68D3-4C27-A5EA-7ADADE376ACD
    

    This shows that the app was downloaded using google chrome. Other users' values will be different but the com.apple.quarantine prefix will be the same!). If this attribute is present AltosUI.app won't be allowed to run.

  2. Use the following command to remove the attribute preventing MacOS X from running this application:

     $ sudo xattr -c /Applications/AltosUI.app
    

    This clears the extended attribute in question. You should now be able to run our app!

  3. Check to make sure the attribute has been cleared:

     $ xattr -l /Applications/AltosUI.app
    

NOTE: this has to be run every time one installs a new version!