Packaged version doesn't start on old versions of macOS

[pramsky]

Hello!

I am unable to start Vorta (0.5.2). Clicking the app or using open -a Vorta.app does nothing. Running the binary under Contents/MacOS/vorta returns the following.

[43076] Error loading Python lib '/var/folders/zh/0t27d1hj01gcs6j5sfdb5tqh0000gn/T/_MEIiht4jn/libpython3.6m.dylib': dlopen: dlopen(/var/folders/zh/0t27d1hj01gcs6j5sfdb5tqh0000gn/T/_MEIiht4jn/libpython3.6m.dylib, 10): Symbol not found: _futimens Referenced from: /var/folders/zh/0t27d1hj01gcs6j5sfdb5tqh0000gn/T/_MEIiht4jn/libpython3.6m.dylib Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib in /var/folders/zh/0t27d1hj01gcs6j5sfdb5tqh0000gn/T/_MEIiht4jn/libpython3.6m.dylib

OS: Sierra 10.12.6
Python version: system python 2.7 , 3.7 also available on system

[m3nu]

Tricky. I'm building the app on macOS 10.14. Looks like it's linking to some system libs that aren't available on 10.12.

Will try in a virtual machine.

[m3nu]

Since you have a new Python and know the CLI, you can also use the pip version:

pip install vorta (or pip install --user vorta)

Then just make sure Borg is also available. (pip install borgbackup or brew install borgbackup)

[m3nu]

This says that to support older versions, it needs to be built on them. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49908236/pyinstaller-executable-fails-on-old-os-x

I think we can support 2 macOS versions. For anything older, it can be installed via pip. I tested 10.13 some time ago, but don't have 10.12 around any more.

[ThomasWaldmann]

See borg's Vagrantfile.

[m3nu]

To package for different macOS versions? I already copied your Vagrantfile in the beginning. :-)

I'd rather have a fix that lets the same file run on all versions. And again, 10.12 is 2 versions back now. Not many people will run it.

[ThomasWaldmann]

There's a rather old osx box. Building on that might result in a binary that works on all versions.

[m3nu]

True. Worth a try.

[pramsky]

Thanks for the responses. I do have Python3 installed via homebrew, borg as well which works great :)

I'll attempt a build from source and see if that works out for me

[pramsky]

Attempted to run vorta directly after cloning the repo and running pip3 install -e . and pip3 install -r requirements-dev.txt and /usr/local/bin/vorta

Result:

2018-12-05 09:42:04.707 Python[81377:28803932] Metal pipeline state creation failed with error: Error Domain=MTLLibraryErrorDomain Code=3 "Compiler encountered an internal error" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Compiler encountered an internal error}
2018-12-05 09:42:04.721 Python[81377:28803932] Metal pipeline state creation failed with error: Error Domain=MTLLibraryErrorDomain Code=3 "Compiler encountered an internal error" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Compiler encountered an internal error}```

[m3nu]

I suspect the binary package for PyQt (which does all the graphics stuff) is not compatible with your macOS version either. ("Metal" is a new graphics framework that Apple has been using to replace OpenGL.) This other project recommends using the binaries provided by the Anaconda Python distribution. They seem to run on older Macs as well.

[m3nu]

I'll package a Vorta version with Anaconda and see how it works. They do their own compiling which is often more backwards-compatible than normal wheels.

[m3nu]

Not much luck with Qt on Conda. The tabs look better, but I keep get the same Metal error that you get (no crash though). It's also not working after freezing it. Their Qt version is very outdated as well.

[pramsky]

hmm. I am upgrading to High Sierra anyways. I'll see if it has any issues there.

[m3nu]

Yeah. Let me know how it goes.

I found that my GF has 10.12 as well. Same error. I may try to build the official release on 10.12 and see if it runs everywhere.

[ThomasWaldmann]

Maybe if you try to solve it within a vagrant machine, you'll end up with a general solution for platform testing (at least everything that runs in Virtualbox) and for building binaries (macOS [including for specific version(s) if needed], Linux, FreeBSD, ... and also 32/64bit, if wanted).

It also is better for building trusted binaries when always starting from a trusted template VM, provisioning stuff needed, building the binary, running the tests (maybe even using that binary), grabbing the binary from there, destroying the VM again. When building binaries on some random machine that is also used for other stuff, there's always some risk involved.

[m3nu]

When building binaries on some random machine that is also used for other stuff, there's always some risk involved.

Agree. This was just for testing. Now that you improved the pyinstaller settings, we can look into building for multiple platforms.

[pramsky]

@m3nu

Sorry for the late update, works perfectly on High Sierra. I have been running it every 4 hours for the past few days now.

[m3nu]

High Sierra is macOS 10.13 or "oldstable". That should work well. What's not working is "oldoldstable", 10.12.

But thanks for the feedback and testing.

[pramsky]

@m3nu

I still have access to a 10.12 machine that I can test on if you need me to :)

[m3nu]

Thanks, but it won't work. Already tested. We'll probably end up building the fat binary for macOS on oldstable in order to support stable and oldoldstable.

[m3nu]

I'll close this because it's essentially included in #126 and supporting stable + oldstable for macOS is a good current state anyways. When we have a proper build system up and running, we can support oldoldstable as well.