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

[Kenneth Wolcott]

Hi;

  I tried open with a specific pdf file, without -F and without -a,
and it eventually opened Preview with an error message that didn't
make sense to me (insufficient permissions for reading for a file
which I had specified a couple of hours previously, it was 644), but
when I clicked ok to proceed, it went on to display the file I asked
for.

  I so I tried this again with a different pdf file and it displayed
the previous pdf file I requested, but not the current file I
requested.  Since I suspected that it opened both files (since I had
not specified -F), I tried to find a Preview tab for the other file.
The second file did not exist in Preview display since there was only
one instance of Preview running (that I could see) and it did not have
any tabs.

  So, something is definitely broken here, but no clue what it is.

Thanks,
Ken

On Sat, Apr 15, 2023 at 1:10 PM chilli.namesake at gmail.com
<chilli.namesake at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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