off-topic question: Apple open command and/or apps in /Applications are half-broken now

[chilli.namesake at gmail.com]

What happens with 

/usr/bin/open some_file.pdf

?

> On Apr 15, 2023, at 15:57, Kenneth Wolcott <kennethwolcott at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi;
> 
> off-topic question: Apple open command and/or apps in /Applications
> are half-broken now
> 
> I'm asking the question here because I think that there are lots of
> people who might know either the answer to my question and/or can help
> me find the answer by describing my problem more accurately/precisely.
> 
>  I don't think anything MacPorts did to my Mac via a port
> installation caused this problem.
> 
>  The problem:
> 
> example problem:
> 
> /usr/bin/open -F -a /Applications/Reader.app/Contents/MacOS/Reader some_file.pdf
> 
> The Reader app comes up to the Dock but does not display the file, and no error.
> 
> example problem variant:
> 
> /Applications/Reader.app/Contents/MacOS/Reader some_file.pdf
> 
> Same result.
> 
> This happens with other applications which I routinely use the open
> command (in a script) to display files.
> 
> Uninstalling the app and re-installing seems to have no effect.
> 
> Rebooting does not change the problem behavior.
> 
> I experienced this problem just recently.
> 
> The problem did not appear right after the last time that I updated
> the MacOS via announced patch from Apple.
> 
> When I launch Reader from the LaunchPad and use the file->open dialog
> to open a file and it works as desired.
> 
> When I launch Preview from the Dock I am able to use the file->open
> dialog to successfully display a file.
> 
> M1, Ventura 13.3.1
> 
> So, what did I do to screw up my M1 mac-mini?
> 
> How to diagnose the problem?
> 
> How to more accurately/precisely describe the problem?
> 
> Thankfully I have xpdf from MacPorts which I can invoke in my
> script(s) to display my pdf files :-)
> 
> Thanks,
> Ken Wolcott