Fixed TS2 after it stopped working some time ago

TotalSpaces
1

Maybe I’m not the only one with this issue, that’s why I’m documenting this…

TS2 v2.4.9 stopped working some time ago (maybe with the 10.12.3 update, not sure) on my Mac at work. Finally I took the time to look into it.

I downloaded the v2.5.4 prerelease that doesn’t need SIP disabled (or enabled but without debug as older versions). So I did disable SIP completely for the installation, as prompted by the new TS2 upon launch (even though I did have debug disabled already, so it was supposed to have worked).

When launching TS2 after this it asked for an admin password twice and installed /Library/ScriptingAdditions/TotalSpaces.osax, but it didn’t work still. (It’s easily noticeable if it doesn’t work, because I only use TS2 to disable animations when switching Spaces. But TS2 is visible in the menu bar and everything)

As nobody else seemed to have this problem in this forum I looked around and found https://totalfinder.binaryage.com/system-osax

I figured it might be worth a try moving /Library/ScriptingAdditions/TotalSpaces.osax to /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions/TotalSpaces.osax, which I did (launched Recovery OS and unlocked FileVaulted drive for this).

On a hunch I additionally gave everyone read and execute rights on TotalSpaces.osax, since they had no rights at all and belong to root:wheel, and my normal User is not even an Administrator…

After reboot TS2 works again once more! Unfortunately I don’t know if moving the TotalSpaces.osax or giving everyone read/execute rights did the trick.

Maybe the developers have some clues, or maybe this helps someone else.

2

Hi, thanks for the feedback. Yes, it is supposed to upgrade your previous installation in place if you only have SIP debug protection disabled - it’s unclear why this didn’t work, but one possible reason is that it also found an installation in /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions for some reason (did you install it there at some point?). And this would also explain why 2.4.9 had stopped working (there as a bug to do with this).

I think you took exactly the right actions to get it working. I tried to test all the possible scenarios, I think you probably had a setup I hadn’t envisaged, so thanks for the feedback once again and I’ll try to reproduce what you experienced.

3

After checking my installation at home I corrected my previous post, as v2.4.9 still works just fine there (SIP enabled without debug). I’ll update that Mac to TS v2.5.4 once it’s final.

one possible reason is that it also found an installation in /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions for some reason (did you install it there at some point?

No, it did not contain TotalSpaces.osax before I moved it there yesterday.

I think you took exactly the right actions to get it working

Good to know, thanks. :slight_smile: