Hello,

I recently compiled allegro and created frameworks for Xcode following this guide. It seemed easy enough, and I've had no problems running my programs in Xcode, but I'm having trouble creating a .app bundle for use on other computers.

If I archive and distribute the program through Xcode, I get the following error when attempting to open the application bundle:

"Pong cannot be opened because of a problem.

Check with the developer to make sure Pong works with this version of Mac OS X. You may need to reinstall the application. Be sure to install any available updates for the application and Mac OS X."

Pong is the name of my Xcode project.

If I open the .app file located at '~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Pong-gwxwmndkwnmimufqwperucqdimwh/Build/Products/Debug', it runs fine on my computer, but I can't run it on any other Mac.

In both cases, the contents of the .app file include the needed frameworks and a Unix executable file.

I did attempt to find an answer to my problem online, but the closest thing I could find was an answer that Allegro must be installed on every computer the App is going to be run on. This seemed to be contradicted by other information I read, and if it was true, I still don't understand why the .app bundle created by distributing the program doesn't even work on my computer.

I must admit that I'm a very inexperienced programmer and this is the first time I've tried to create a .app bundle for any program.

I'd really appreciate any help!

There wasn't a show details button in the error message, but I found the crash report in Console.

I'm attaching a .txt file with the crash report, and I'll copy the seemingly relevant parts into this post.

Exception Type:  EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000

Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

Dyld Error Message:
  Symbol not found: __al_mangled_main
  Referenced from: /Library/Frameworks/AllegroMain-5.0.framework/Versions/5.0.7/AllegroMain-5.0
  Expected in: flat namespace
 in /Library/Frameworks/AllegroMain-5.0.framework/Versions/5.0.7/AllegroMain-5.0

Edit

The only solution to this error that I can find online is to fix the main declaration. Is this not correct?

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    //code
}

Thanks for the help.

1) I'm already doing this.
2) 'AllegroMain-5.0.framework' is one of my linked frameworks. Is this what you mean by link to the add on?
3) The same AllegroMain-5.0 framework is included with my bundle, but I'm unsure how to link it statically?

Okay, thank you for trying. I'll try to research bundling frameworks in general while I wait for another answer here.

UPDATE:

Something I did fixed the __al_mangled_main error, but I'm not sure exactly what it was. I'm getting a different error now, and this one makes more sense. When I open the application on another computer, it searches for the frameworks in /Library/Frameworks. I have the copy files build phase set up, and I can see the frameworks in .app/Contents/Frameworks, but the code can't find them.

Can someone please help me with fixing this problem?

Okay, I went with frameworks because there was a very clear guide to getting them for my OS and my version of Xcode. Can you point me to a good guide for installing static libraries?

EDIT

I changed my mind about going with static libraries. Frameworks just seem so much more natural.

I used install_name_tool to change the install directory of the frameworks to @executable_path/../Frameworks so it can be loaded from the application bundle. My new problem is that Allegro-5.0.framework is loaded, but AllegroMain-5.0 still searches for it in /Library/Frameworks.

It doesn't seem like anyone here will be able to help me, but I figured I'd give this one last bump just in case.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm afraid I don't exactly understand what you're saying. Every framework had the install_name set to @executable_path/../Frameworks. Something I did messed something up, so I reinstalled the frameworks. I made sure the correct install_name was set, and now I'm getting a new error, yet again.

Exception Type:  EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000

Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

Dyld Error Message:
  Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libfreetype.6.dylib
  Referenced from: /Volumes/VOLUME/Pong.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/AllegroTTF-5.0.framework/Versions/5.0.10/AllegroTTF-5.0
  Reason: image not found

Is it required for the computer to have freetype installed, or can I somehow include that with my application as well?

UPDATE:

I finally got my application to run on another computer!

I simply added libfreetype.6.dylib to the Framework copy files build phase in Xcode. After that, I used the following terminal command to tell AllegroTTF where to find the library.

sudo install_name_tool -change /opt/local/lib/libfreetype.6.dylib @executable_path/../Frameworks/libfreetype.6.dylib /Library/Frameworks/AllegroTTF-5.0.framework/Versions/5.0.10/AllegroTTF-5.0

Thanks to Ingo Maurischat for pointing me towards the -change flag of install_name_tool when I was only using -id before.

Also, thanks to Trent Gamblin for working with me to try and solve my problem.