Opened 9 years ago
Closed 9 years ago
#14337 closed defect (wontfix)
Doesn't run on Mac OS if renamed; can't install multiple versions
| Reported by: | Shad Sterling | Owned by: | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component: | other | Version: | VirtualBox 4.3.30 |
| Keywords: | Cc: | ||
| Guest type: | other | Host type: | Mac OS X |
Description
VirtualBox 4.3.30 exits immediately unless it has the name "VirtualBox.app". In particular, it does not run if named "VirtualBox 4.3.30.app".
(I ran in to this while trying to resolve a problem with symlinks in shared folders, see comment:34:ticket:10085. I renamed it because I wanted to install the latest version without replacing the version already installed at the time. At one point I had 4.3.28, 4.3.30 and 5.0.0 installed and renamed the same way.)
I don't know where the actual error is logged, but my first guess is that you have an inappropriately hardcoded path to something inside the app bundle. Apple seems to have good documentation of how to handle bundled resources using native APIs: Accessing a Bundle’s Contents - https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFBundles/AccessingaBundlesContents/AccessingaBundlesContents.html Accessing Files and Directories - https://developer.apple.com/Library/mac/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/FileSystemProgrammingGuide/AccessingFilesandDirectories/AccessingFilesandDirectories.html
This will never work. VirtualBox depends on kernel extensions which fit to the application and on fixed paths. And running multiple versions of VirtualBox on the same host is not supported (and most likely will never be).