Avogadro2 1.102 won't launch on Mac

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I believe this to be a bug with Avogadro:

I downloaded version 1.102 when prompted to update from 1.101, but it won’t start. I sent the automatic bug report thing to Apple when it came up, hope that helps you! For now I have reverted to 1.101.

Environment Information

Avogadro version: 1.102.0 and 1.102.1 (both had same issue)
Operating system and version: Ventura 13.7.8

Expected Behavior

Should start.

Actual Behavior

Doesn’t start.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install 1.102

  2. Try to start, deal with permissions dialog (ctrl-click to start first time), but still doesn’t work.

Please upload files if appropriate here (or via file-sharing service like Dropbox or Pastebin)

I’m guessing since you’re back on Ventura that you’re using an Intel-based Mac?

GitHub switched build systems and I’m not 100% sure that we can support Ventura anymore. I compile everything Avogadro-related with a MACOS_DEPLOYMENT_VERSION of 13.0, but I can’t guarantee that everything else (e.g., Qt libraries, etc.) are.

I would guess if you launch from the Terminal (e.g., /Applications/Avogadro2.app/Contents/MacOS/Avogadro2 you’ll see various messages.

But it’s also hard to support older macOS: macOS Versions Market Share in 2025 | TelemetryDeck

I’m also not sure why it’s complaining about permissions. It’s definitely signed and notarized by Apple.

It is indeed a ~5 year old Intel macbook. I’ve been considering getting a new one for a while now! I could try to launch from the terminal and get some error reports if that’s helpful. But 1.101 works OK for me so it’s no big deal. I think the permissions thing is the usual thing where it makes you ctrl-click as an extra step to run an application not made by Apple for the first time, I think I had to do it for previous versions too as far as I recall, and for lots of other 3rd party programs too. Anyways, just thought I should report the problem since I didn’t see any other posts about it.

Thanks, I appreciate the comment - I’ll certainly see if there’s any other indication that it no longer works on macOS 13.0.. I think there’s a way we can declare that in the Info.plist so it won’t even launch.