Constant Launchd error

papypaprika

I am repeatedly getting:

com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.sweetpproductions.Cookie5.Helper[1595]) Could not find and/or execute program specified by service: 155: Refusing to execute/trust quarantined program/file: com.sweetpproductions.Cookie5.Helper

After I install Cookie 5 (either 5.03 or 5.03.8.8 Beta).

I also have found that Cookie does not restart after a reboot. I have to manually run it. Or add it to Login Items, even though I set the preference to start Cookie upon login.

Is there supposed to be a Helper that is run?

Same error here, and Cookie doesn't launch at login, I have to manually at id to the items to be launched in the Users pref pane, and this launches Cookie (annoyingly with the Cookie window that shows up)...

SweetP

ok,
ill look into this more.

mag

I think the cause is simply the fact, that normally any file downloaded from internet source via browser is flagged as quarantined (it has the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute set) and once you have a zip archive flagged like this and unpack it, all of its contents will inherit it.

OS X won't let you launch an application with the quarantine flag (that's that Gatekeeper stuff) unless you deliberately allow it (Secondary click + Open, or via Security & Privacy settings: Allow apps downloaded from: Mac App Store and identified developers or Anywhere). Once it's successfully launched it will be then possible to launch it again without issues and that should apply to the Helper app as well, however I'm not sure how does the launchd exactly react to the quarantine flag because it isn't cleared even after the app is allowed to launch, only its data is modified a little (first 4 bytes which seem to represent some numeric value in the ASCII form and are "0001" (30303031 hex) after downloading and unpacking the app will change to "0041" (30303431 hex)).
It's entirely possible that even though that's enough to launch it manually, launchd will still reject it and it's necessary to delete that flag entirely in order to be able to allow it from launchd.

I don't use the Helper and have never tried it so I'm just speculating, but there may be basically 2 ways around it:

After downloading and unpacking the Cookie app, launch it at least once manually and allow it through the Gatekeeper if necessary
If the 1st method isn't enough, then you will have to clear the quarantine flag for the whole app, an example (for Terminal): xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Cookie.app (of course you may do it right away with the downloaded archive (then the -r xattr argument isn't required) and only then unpack it)

Of course none of the above can be done other way than by the user themselves - otherwise it would be easily possible to circumvent the Gatekeeper protection...
I have no idea whether there's any more elegant solution besides finding some vulnerability in the Gatekeeper mechanism and making use of it (which would go against the whole idea of why it exists in first place and thus Apple should patch it)

Note that applications distributed via the Mac App Store shouldn't be affected, such apps aren't flagged with the quarantine attribute.

SweetP

Thanks mag,
You're most likely correct, Maybe the version of Sparkle I use doesn't fix the quarantine bit as it should. I'll look into this later on today and see what I can find.

SweetP

it looks as though this terminal.app command should fix the problem:

xattr -d -r -s com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Cookie.app

this is assuming Cookie is in your Applications folder

mag

Yes, something like that. However when this is an issue after updating via Sparkle as You hint the question is: why does that occur when Sparkle is supposed to take care of that? I briefly checked their source and it's really in there:
https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/blob/master/Sparkle/SUFileManager.m
and used from at least here:
https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/blob/master/Sparkle/SUBasicUpdateDriver.m
which should be there since at least Sparkle 1.12

SweetP

The official fork of sparkle doesn't work in the sandbox. Someone has a newer fork which is looking like it will become sparkle 2.0 which is sandboxed, but I'm not sure how far away that is. I'm not sure about the fork I'm using, I'll look into it.

jgoff87

The Cookie update I installed today fixed the crash issue I was experiencing previously. However, Cookie still does not launch from a fresh boot and crashes. It will launch manually, however.

I'm having some problems with Chrome when it is launched. With Cookie closed it opens normally, but with it running I have several browser extensions opening tabs and complaining about preferences or options. Cookie isn’t suppose to mess with browser extensions, from what I understand, and I tried to identify any of their cookies as favorites (i.e. AdBlock), so I don’t know what is going on. Like user papypaprika noted, the Cookie window opens every time I manually launch it. I thought I finished the initial setup but perhaps I missed something. When I look closely at Cookie’s settings (Websites) it has a bunch of cookies unchecked, others checked, and still others with dashes. I have no idea what that is about since some of the ones with dashes are my favorites (like my bank) and some of the ones that are checked are my favorites too (I say “some” because I didn’t view them all). I presume the little heart column is Favorites, but what is the dot column? And the star column? Is there any documentation available that would provide an explanation for some of these items?

[color=#101010][font=Verdana]I'd appreciate any assistance you can offer. Thank you.[/font][/color]

SweetP

I'm having some problems with Chrome when it is launched. With Cookie closed it opens normally, but with it running I have several browser extensions opening tabs and complaining about preferences or options.

If you are running the version from my Store, you can update to v5.0.4.0.1 (Beta version) via the Updates tab in Preferences. that will fix the issue with Chrome Extensions. Ive also uploaded v5.0.5 to Apple for review and it should be available before the end of the week for Mac App Store users.

When I look closely at Cookie’s settings (Websites) it has a bunch of cookies unchecked, others checked, and still others with dashes. I have no idea what that is about since some of the ones with dashes are my favorites (like my bank) and some of the ones that are checked are my favorites too (I say “some” because I didn’t view them all).

a check means all browsers have this cookie as a favorite, a dash means only some browsers have this cookie as a favourite (Cookie treats chrome users as separate browsers - just expand the chrome browser to see settings/favorites for all users). if you switch browsers, you can see exactly which browsers are favorited, and which are not. to make all browsers treat the cookie as a favorited make sure you have the "All" browser highlighted in the left-hand column and then check any cookies you want favorited.

I personally only really use Safari, so have all my favorites stored just in Safari. I use all other browsers just for testing, so those don't have any favorited.

I presume the little heart column is Favorites, but what is the dot column? And the star column? Is there any documentation available that would provide an explanation for some of these items?

the dot column indicates tracking cookies, and the star column indicates browser extensions. The dot/heart/star icons in the bottom right corner of Cookie are actually buttons, revealing related specific options.

jgoff87

Thank you for your timely reply. I purchased your app through the Apple Store so I'll wait for the update you mentioned. Thanks also for explaining the heart/dot/star columns. Like you, I usually use Safari but I've been having some issues lately where Facebook will slowly claim more and more RAM until my system is virtually locked up. One day it was using 6GB of the 8GB on my system. And it only happens in Safari…Chrome seems okay. But that's why I've been using Chrome more and I realize that is way TMI for this thread.