[CircleCI] Finder got an error: AppleEvent timed out. (-1712)

[ogerardin]

I'm submitting a…

• bug report
• feature request
• other

Short description of the issue/suggestion:
When running on CircleCI with macOS executor, DMG image generation fails with message "bundle format unrecognized, invalid, or unsuitable"

Steps to reproduce the issue/enhancement:

1. Configure the plugin to generate a DMG for mac
2. Configure CircleCI to build with macOS executor
3. Run pipeline

What is the expected behavior?
DMG file is generated

What is the current behavior?
Failure during DMG generation with error described above

Do you have outputs, screenshots, demos or samples which demonstrate the problem or enhancement?
See example build: https://app.circleci.com/pipelines/github/ogerardin/xpman/24/workflows/6dca15e1-1d24-47ca-9c06-29caa2c8ba9d/jobs/58?invite=true#step-103-2530

Please tell us about your environment:

• JavaPackager version: 1.6.3
• OS version: 12.2
• JDK version: 11.0.11
• Build tool:
  • Maven
  • Gradle

Other information (e.g. related issues, suggestions how to fix, links for us to have context)
I've tested with XCode images 13.2.1 and 13.3.0.
CircleCI macOS images: https://circleci.com/docs/2.0/testing-ios/#supported-xcode-versions
DMG generation works fine on my own Mac (macOS 12.2.1).

[fvarrui]

Hi @ogerardin!
I've seen that you are bundling a JDK with your app. Please, try to remove jrePath property in order to generate a customized JRE.

[fvarrui]

It fails when codesigning the app 🤷‍♂️

[ogerardin]

Hi @ogerardin! I've seen that you are bundling a JDK with your app. Please, try to remove jrePath property in order to generate a customized JRE.

I did what you suggested (i'm moving this project from Java 8...) now it seems to go further :) But then I get an error "Finder got an error: AppleEvent timed out. (-1712)" when executing AppleScript https://app.circleci.com/pipelines/github/ogerardin/xpman/36/workflows/8c7812ef-1ffa-4cb7-bf39-2c74eacbdf98/jobs/87?invite=true#step-103-2549

I've noticed that the CircleCI macOS executor isn't very fast, maybe you could increase the timeout ? It seems to be 2 minutes by default, and that might not be enough for this operation.

(Also, even though there is an error, the build is considered successful...)

[fvarrui]

Wow!!! It was hard to find a solution for this problem, but I finally managed to reproduce and fix it. After trying several options, I finally found this.

As far as I can understand, osascript (AppleScript executor) asks for permissions (user interaction), and of course, since it's running on Circle CI (non-interactive), after a waiting time the error occurred (Finder got an error: AppleEvent timed out. (-1712)) as it never gets a response.

Run next commands before packaging fix the problem:

epochdate=$(($(date +'%s * 1000 + %-N / 1000000')))
tcc_service_appleevents="replace into access (service,client,client_type,auth_value,auth_reason,auth_version,indirect_object_identifier_type,indirect_object_identifier,flags,last_modified) values (\"kTCCServiceAppleEvents\",\"/usr/sbin/sshd\",1,2,4,1,0,\"com.apple.finder\",0,$epochdate);"
sudo sqlite3 "/Users/distiller/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db" "$tcc_service_appleevents"

It gives to "sshd" (SSH server used by CircleCI to run commands on the VM/container) permissions on "Finder".

And your Circle CI config file has to look like this:

  build-mac:
    macos:
      xcode: 13.3.0
    steps:
      - run:
          name: Fix Finder got an error - AppleEvent timed out. (-1712)
          command: |
            epochdate=$(($(date +'%s * 1000 + %-N / 1000000')))
            tcc_service_appleevents="replace into access (service,client,client_type,auth_value,auth_reason,auth_version,indirect_object_identifier_type,indirect_object_identifier,flags,last_modified) values (\"kTCCServiceAppleEvents\",\"/usr/sbin/sshd\",1,2,4,1,0,\"com.apple.finder\",0,$epochdate);"
            sudo sqlite3 "/Users/distiller/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db" "$tcc_service_appleevents"
      - run:
          name: Install Maven
          command: brew install maven
      - checkout
      - run:
          name: Build
          command: |
            /usr/libexec/java_home -V
            export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 11`
            mvn -v
            mvn -B -DskipTests clean package

[fvarrui]

I forgot it! ... the execution of the AppleScript by JavaPackager is only for customizing the generated DMG, hence the process continues even if the execution of this script fails.

I hope it helps!

[ogerardin]

Thanks for putting in all the effort! It does solve the problem. It was not an actual timeout problem or a bug in the plugin :)

Maybe you should put this in the Mac section of the doc.