Won't launch (4.0.0.18629 - July 28, 2014)

[ncr100]

Is it relevant I have FileVault enabled?

[Zoë]

I wouldn't think FileVault would affect anything.

Exit code 217 is returned for an unhandled exception. It's supposed to write out additional information when that occurs, which means it's happening early enough that our basic initialization isn't completing.

Couple of things to try from the command line:

bcomp
bcompare
open /Applications/Beyond\ Compare.app

Those should all be closer to launching from the icon.

Also, email [email protected] and we can send you the release we have in testing to see if that has any different behavior.

[ncr100]

Thanks for the clarification!

I'm seeing an access violation with 'bcomp', so for double sure that 217 is an exception:

Nicks-Awesome-MacBook-Pro:MacOS nick$ ./bcomp /tmp/a /tmp/b
exception at 9002E0F0:
Access violation.

So, the exception ALWAYS occurs on bcomp commandline (both 'bcomp' and 'bcomp /tmp/a /tmp/b').

And it ONLY occurs on bcompare commandline if I try to compare from the commandline (only crashes with 'bcompare /tmp/a /tmp/b'). If I run it with no params then the gui appears and the app runs seemingly fine.

The app dies quickly if I use 'open'...seems to operate just like it does via the icon.

[rayburgemeestre]

Thanks for the clarification!

I'm seeing an access violation with 'bcomp', so for double sure that 217 is an exception:

Nicks-Awesome-MacBook-Pro:MacOS nick$ ./bcomp /tmp/a /tmp/b
exception at 9002E0F0:
Access violation.

So, the exception ALWAYS occurs on bcomp commandline (both 'bcomp' and 'bcomp /tmp/a /tmp/b').

And it ONLY occurs on bcompare commandline if I try to compare from the commandline (only crashes with 'bcompare /tmp/a /tmp/b'). If I run it with no params then the gui appears and the app runs seemingly fine.

The app dies quickly if I use 'open'...seems to operate just like it does via the icon.

I have exactly the same problem on OSX 10.9.4, exception at "some address":.
BCompare does run, bcomp doesnt. I'd like bcomp to work, as I like to use beyond compare with git.

[email protected]:/Users/trigen> spctl -a -t exec -vv /Applications/Beyond\ Compare.app
/Applications/Beyond Compare.app: accepted
source=Developer ID
origin=Developer ID Application: Scooter Software Inc.
[email protected]:/Users/trigen> codesign -dvvv /Applications/Beyond\ Compare.app
Executable=/Applications/Beyond Compare.app/Contents/MacOS/BCompare
Identifier=com.ScooterSoftware.BeyondCompare
Format=bundle with Mach-O thin (i386)
CodeDirectory v=20100 size=88342 flags=0x0(none) hashes=4410+3 location=embedded
Hash type=sha1 size=20
CDHash=16448babee574ddb030f0c45e08a162f652b5b94
Signature size=8527
Authority=Developer ID Application: Scooter Software Inc.
Authority=Developer ID Certification Authority
Authority=Apple Root CA
Timestamp=28 Aug 2014 23:49:35
Info.plist entries=19
TeamIdentifier=not set
Sealed Resources version=1 rules=4 files=1424
Internal requirements count=1 size=196

[Zoë]

You need to use the "Install Command Line Tools..." command in the "Beyond Compare" menu, which will set up symbolic links in /usr/bin. Calling "bcomp" directly from the app bundle isn't supported.

[dempson]

You need to use the "Install Command Line Tools..." command in the "Beyond Compare" menu, which will set up symbolic links in /usr/bin. Calling "bcomp" directly from the app bundle isn't supported.

Minor correction: Beyond Compare installs symbolic links to its command line tool links in /usr/local/bin, as it should.

[dempson]

Outdated code signing?

Related to this discussion, I've noticed that Beyond Compare 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 were being rejected by GateKeeper as being from an unknown developer when I launched them on OS X 10.10 (I was able to get them running via the contextual menu Open, as usual for GateKeeper).

Looking at those two versions with "spctl -a -t exec -vv /Applications/Beyond\ Compare.app/" produces this output on OS X 10.10:

/Applications/Beyond Compare.app/: rejected
source=obsolete resource envelope
origin=Developer ID Application: Scooter Software Inc.

(For some reason I'm not getting the same behaviour with a re-extracted copy of 4.0.0: GateKeeper will let me launch it, but the same spctl command says rejected with "source=matched cdhash".)

A further check with "codesign -dvvv /Applications/Beyond\ Compare.app" shows that Beyond Compare 4.0.0, 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 have a version 1 signature, which is not accepted by GateKeeper on OS X 10.9.5 and later. To fix, this, Beyond Compare needs to be signed on a Mac running OS X 10.9 or later, which will give it a version 2 signature.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the report. We just missed the window with an expired code signing, and are working on updating that.