MacOS Install Problem

Authoring Inform 7
1

Yesterday I went to install Inform 7 IDE, version 10.1.2, the Sept 5, 2022 install from Github.

I encountered a strange problem as compared to the Windows install. The installer did not install any of the included extensions from third-party developers. After some consultation with ChatGPT, I copied the Extensions folder from my Windows version to ~/Library/Inform/Extensions/ on the Mac. I had to create these directories, the installer didn’t even create an Inform directory under Library.

Only after doing this did the sample games included with Inform 7 compile.

I don’t know if this is a flaw in the installation, or a change in MacOS since 2022. But regardless, if you have a newer Mac and try to install Inform 7, you might have to do some tweaking.

2

This is just a guess, but I think there’s a pretty good chance that it’s a sandboxing issue. If you went into Privacy settings and granted Full Disk Access to Inform, it would probably work as you’re expecting. (Note: this isn’t the recommended way of handling it, as it implies that you trust Inform not to do anything weird with your files. You may be able to grant more fine-grained access under Files and Folders.)

The fact that the Inform directory is nested directly under Library might be part of the issue – if it were moved to Application Support, it might just work without any special measures. (This would require a new release of the IDE though.)

3

Perhaps, but as a user how am I supposed to know to do those things? In fact I don’t know how to grant full disk access to inform.

4

Like I said, it’s in the Privacy settings (on my machine, this is at System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy).

And you’re right, it’s an issue with the IDE that needs a fix. I was merely commenting on the cause and potential workarounds.

5

I had to ask someone how, but I have now added Inform to the list of apps with disk access.

6

And did it fix the issue?

7

I dont know, it worked fine before I changed anything. The issue I had was with installation, but once it was installed it seemed to work.