Darktable launch problem from MacOS non-admin account

Software darktable
1

Hello,
I am a long-time enthusiast Darktable user on Macbook. A couple months ago I changed to a Macbook M4. I am required on this machine to use a separate user account (albeit with admin rights). Darktable 5.2.0 works perfectly in the admin account. In my user account Darktable struggles to launch. Randomly, launch can work ok, it can as well take several minutes or even hang. I tried the following, without success : 1) create a brand-new second user account for testing, 2) copy photo directories directly in user account (initially in admin) 3) check rights on files (user admin rights) , 4) recreate darktable configuration & database from scratch.

One hint, when eliminating an image in darktable and choosing to eliminate from disk, I get a “permission denied” answer - even where the user has full rights.

Seems to me that the problem is linked to permission management between darktable and MacOs, for the particular use from a user account. I have some general tech knowledge but am not familiar with Mac terminal commands etc. so I did everything I could find in the graphical GUI (system parameters, finder…).

Did anyone experience similar problems ? What can I check to better point the problem ? Any hint how to proceed ?

@admin, this is my first topic, I hope I placed it right in the software domain.

Than’s in advance;
Jan from France

2

Do you use some sort of virus scanner? It sounds like something a virus scanner might do.

Also, check that your user is actually the owner of all the files in your ~/.config/darktable/ directory.

3

Thanks for your answer !
Yes there is a WithSecure virus scanner installed. I’ll see how it works if it is deactivated. And yes the user is owner of ~/.config/darktable/.
I’ll get back after the test.
cheers.

4

Thank’a a lot Bastian your guess was right. The problem was a WithSecure virus scanner. Curiously (to me) DT works fine from the admin account. What seems to solve the issue is to use the xattr-quarantine command on the dmg file before install and not on the installed app : <xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/darktable*.dmg>. There must be some slight difference in the file management …

For the moment the problem seems solved, big smile !!! I’ll just check rebooting the Mac and reopening the account to see if that this is definitively working.

Thank’s a lot!
Jan

1 Like
5

Seem like I’m facing a similar problem here. When I open Darktable 5.2.x (also tested 5.2.1 now) my MacBook Pro M4 also hangs, showing a very “scaled” window with really large fonts and also a dialog box showing “Initializing Lua”.

I can then kill the program and restart it and then it usually works fine – also if I stop and start the program.

I tried the same “hack” (xattr -d …) on the dmg file when installing 5.2.1 but it didn’t make any difference.

I am running this on a computer with some virus scanning also, but since it works for some time after having failed I guess it may also be related to something else.

What is the best way to debug this?

– Per.

6

I am experiencing with 5.4.0 exactly the same problem as Per does. Essentially darkroom hangs on startup, I force quit it, then it starts fine, the next time I start it hangs, and the vicious loop continues. One may say that I have a workaround of starting-killing-starting again, but that’s certainly not the way for application to behave and one never knows what kind of cumulative negative effect may be lurking out there.

MacBook Pro, M4.

Has anybody solved this problem?