Celestia Forums

Hey,
I just downloaded Celestia for a Mac which has the OS X-10.3.9.
I'm new to the Mac...
I'm trying to add files and it appears the whole file structure of Celestia is ReadOnly...
Is there a way on a Mac to switch this. I can't even drop a new xyz file into the Data folder...

~Alex

amzolt wrote:Hey,
I just downloaded Celestia for a Mac which has the OS X-10.3.9.
I'm new to the Mac...

Nobody use Celestia on a Mac ?!?

~ Alex

amzolt wrote: I'm new to the Mac... I'm trying to add files and it appears the whole file structure of Celestia is ReadOnly...

This should not be a problem... If someone else created your account on the machine in question, you might have restricted access to the folder Celestia or the CelestiaResources folder is installed in.

If you are the owner, you can remedy this by selecting the folder and bring up the permissions form for it: type command+I while the folder is selected. Here you can change it to get write access.

If that does not work, you need to get the admin password, and/or re-install Celestia into a directory you own (like your User Folder).

-rthorvald

and I've been a sysadmin and kernel hacker for 20 years now!

Using the 1.3.2 DMG, the resources folder must be in the same directory as the .app - putting it anywhere else does not work, even the locations listed in the read me.

Even when in the same directory as the app, the "open" "new" and most other menu options are grayed out and unusable. I can run the demo, but that's about it.

Permissions in the CelestiaResources folder are read/write.

chesmontastro wrote:Using the 1.3.2 DMG, the resources folder must be in the same directory as the .app - putting it anywhere else does not work, even the locations listed in the read me.

No, this is incorrect: i have successfully placed - and used - the CelestiaResources folder in:

- /Users/myself/Library/Application Support
- /Library/Application Support/
- In the same folder where Celestia resides (anywhere on any connected hard drive)
- Inside the Celestia package

OSX 10.4.2 and 10.3.9

- rthorvald

Ummm... Dude, it may work for you, but that doesn't mean it's not broken for me.

I've got a stock 10.4.3 PB and, as I said, most of the menu options are greyed out and the program won't even launch if the folder isn't in the same directory as the application.

I even checked out the source from CVS and I had the same problem.

It appears that the "CelestiaResources" directory has not been properly installed in the correct location as indicated by the installation instructions. Please correct this and try again."[/i]

chesmontastro wrote:and I've been a sysadmin and kernel hacker for 20 years now!

Do you not think you were wrong?:X:X

After trying on two different machines and following the directions, no I don't think I did anything wrong.

rthorvald wrote:i have successfully placed - and used - the CelestiaResources folder in:

- /Users/myself/Library/Application Support
- /Library/Application Support/
- In the same folder where Celestia resides (anywhere on any connected hard drive)
- Inside the Celestia package

OSX 10.4.2 and 10.3.9

- rthorvald

I have also successfully done this... on about 5 different machines (actually probably twice that). So I guess there is "following the directions" and then there is "following the directions". Perhaps this dilemma can be solved by explaining, in detail, exactly how the directions were followed (from the VERY beginning of a restart). IE:

1) Started the computer
2) Logged into my main user (this needs to be explicitly stated since multi-log-ins can cause trouble)
3) Downloaded Celestia to my desktop
4) Expanded Celestia...

Etc., etc. I find that when someone is an experienced user, but is having a problem REPEATEDLY (that other experienced users are NOT having), it's best to resort to giving the non-problem-having users an extremely detailed blow-by-blow... since it's usually the glossing over of a presumed-meaningless detail where the problem lies.

chesmontastro wrote:and I've been a sysadmin and kernel hacker for 20 years now!

Also, you said you had a stock PB. But... just curious, with these skills under your belt, perhaps have you been toying about under the hood of OS X? Optimizing this or that or whatever kernel hackers like to do? Perhaps the problem lays there...

Yes, I was too lazy to put this all in one post.

rthorvald wrote:

chesmontastro wrote:Using the 1.3.2 DMG, the resources folder must be in the same directory as the .app - putting it anywhere else does not work, even the locations listed in the read me.

No, this is incorrect

Since this is a scientific board and all about precision, I would also point out (as you all know by now I feel strangely compelled to do in instances like this) that rthorvald is "correct" in labelling the above statement "incorrect".

In other words, since many of us HAVE been able to put the resources folder in other directories besides the app's directory than the statement...

"putting it anywhere else does not work"

...would be false aka incorrect. So newbies take note.

Just because the statement is incorrect does does NOT mean that some users won't encounter problems getting Celestia to work if the resources folder has been "put anywhere else". But it does work and, apparently, like all software, some users have problems with it. Nothing new there...

However, it behooves all us Mac users to find out exactly WHY one user is unable to get it to work (on two machines, no less) when many other users ARE. It is either a technical problem (beyond my ability to fix) or lack of clarity in the users manual so that "following the directions" means one thing to one person and something to someone else (which would be bad). And THAT we can do something about pretty easily.

BBTL - thanks for the intelligent reply; attempting to answer your question, the first thing I did was restart the existing installation of Celestia (1.3.2) and verified that all the menu items were grayed out and the app was not functional. So, I went and looked for the newest version of Celestia and downloaded 1.4 from source forge.

The good news is that after dropping the application in /Applications and the resources in ~/Library/Application Support the application found the resources and the menu items appear enabled. I then moved the resources to /Library/Application Support and verified that the app still appears to launch correctly.

I'm guessing there was some kind of build or permissions issue with the older .dmg; it happens, I've seen similar issues with releases of my own software. At this point, I'll try to evaluate the software as time allows and provide feedback here and publish a review of it on http://www.chesmontastro.org - no promises about when I'll be done, though. The holiday season is still upon us.

Well, at least it's fixed. As for permissions issues, I'm sure you know FARRRR more about it than I do. All I know is a few good rules of thumb to avoid them (but NOTHING of what to do when they occur). But, yes, I have noticed that Celestia has been finicky that way (especially when downloaded in one user and opened in another...)

Perhaps it was the re-downloading itself that fixed the problem and not necessarily the new version?