Symbolic link to Stellarium?

[Paul Gilmartin]

When I try:
563 $ ln -fs /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium .
564 $ ./stellarium --help
[ 0.024][WARN] Could not find the Qt platform plugin "cocoa" in ""
[ 0.025][FATAL] This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be
initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

Abort trap: 6

I see in footnote 4 in guide.pd:
5.1.2 macOS
installation directory This is found inside the application bundle, Stellarium.app. See The
Anatomy of macOS App Bundles4 or Bundle Programming Guide5 for more information.

Basic macOS App Bundle Anatomy

Within the bundle’s “Contents” folder, you’ll find a number of files.
All macOS apps must contain the following files at a minimum:

Info.plist: includes mandatory configuration details along with application identifier strings.

MacOS/Executable: the code that runs when the user launches the app that is found inside
the “MacOS” folder. Without an executable, you don’t have much of a bundle.

I see no "Info.plist". Is that the cause of the failure?
if not, then what is?

Otherwise, Stellarium works s well from the graphic interface.

--
Thanks,
gil

[Georg Zotti]

You link the central executable to your current directory. Then you start it from here, but it does not find its libraries because you are calling from the wrong directory. Just don"t. 

[Alexander V. Wolf]

Hi!

сб, 5 июл. 2025 г. в 00:09, 'Paul Gilmartin' via Stellarium <stell...@googlegroups.com>:

When I try:
     563 $ ln -fs /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium .
     564 $ ./stellarium --help
     [     0.024][WARN] Could not find the Qt platform plugin "cocoa" in ""
     [     0.025][FATAL] This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be
     initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

     Abort trap: 6

OK, but why you want to use symlink in macOS?

 

I see in footnote 4 in guide.pd:
     5.1.2 macOS
     installation directory This is found inside the application bundle, Stellarium.app. See The
     Anatomy of macOS App Bundles4 or Bundle Programming Guide5 for more information.

     Basic macOS App Bundle Anatomy

     Within the bundle’s “Contents” folder, you’ll find a number of files.
     All macOS apps must contain the following files at a minimum:

     Info.plist: includes mandatory configuration details along with application identifier strings.

     MacOS/Executable: the code that runs when the user launches the app that is found inside
     the “MacOS” folder. Without an executable, you don’t have much of a bundle.

I see no "Info.plist".  Is that the cause of the failure?
if not, then what is?

Stellarium has hooks for finding libraries and other required stuff in macOS - we expect that it will launching from standard location of bundle (using relative paths). Stellarium bundle has Info.plist file :)

--

With best regards, Alexander

[Paul Gilmartin]

On 7/4/25 11:16, Alexander V. Wolf wrote:

> сб, 5 июл. 2025 г. в 00:09, 'Paul Gilmartin' via Stellarium <stell...@googlegroups.com <mailto:stell...@googlegroups.com>>:

>
> When I try:
>      563 $ ln -fs /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium .
>      564 $ ./stellarium --help

> ...

>      Abort trap: 6
>
> OK, but why you want to use symlink in macOS?

> ...
Guide.pdf lacks instructions for using command line other than:> I see in footnote 4 in guide.pd:
>      5.1.2 macOS

>      Anatomy of macOS App Bundles4 or Bundle Programming Guide5 for more information.

> ...
The following works:
590 $ /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium --help
Usage:
stellarium [options]
...
but it's uncomfortably verbose so I tried to "shortcut" it with the symlink.
If there's a better way, guide.pdf should describe it. Must I:
506 $ cd /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/
507 $ stellarium --help
?
That's hardly better.

--
Thanks,
gil



--
gil
Моё судно на воздушной подушке полно угрей.
...+ ...| ...+ ...| ...+ ...| ...+ ...| ...+ ...| ...+ ...| ...+ ...| ...+ ...|

[Alexander V. Wolf]

Hi!

сб, 5 июл. 2025 г. в 02:03, 'Paul Gilmartin' via Stellarium <stell...@googlegroups.com>:

> OK, but why you want to use symlink in macOS?
>     ...
Guide.pdf lacks instructions for using command line other than:>     I see in footnote 4 in guide.pd:
>           5.1.2 macOS
>           Anatomy of macOS App Bundles4 or Bundle Programming Guide5 for more information.
>     ...
The following works:
      590 $ /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium --help
     Usage:
       stellarium [options]
     ...
but it's uncomfortably verbose so I tried to "shortcut" it with the symlink.
If there's a better way, guide.pdf should describe it.  Must I:
     506 $ cd  /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/
     507 $ stellarium --help
?
That's hardly better.

Any platform has own limitations and specifics for the command-line interface and a package system's combination. Our Guide is not provided details for these specifics because advanced options will use by advanced users and these users has good background (or advanced) knowledge for own platforms. Just for understanding - the standard Apple's bundle is not a single way to distribute and run software in macOS (hello pkgsrc from NetBSD or something like homebrew/fink/macports/etc. for Mac OS X/macOS).

Probably we should add more info for standard packages and some standard situations for launching/using Stellarium on some platforms (at least we should add notes for shortcuts specifics for macOS/Haiku).

[Hans]

'Paul Gilmartin' via Stellarium wrote on 20250704:
> The following works:
> 590 $ /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium --help
> Usage:
> stellarium [options]
> ...
> but it's uncomfortably verbose so I tried to "shortcut" it with the symlink.
> If there's a better way, guide.pdf should describe it. Must I:
> 506 $ cd /Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/
> 507 $ stellarium --help
> ?
> That's hardly better.

Maybe write a shell script and name that stellarium and place it in the search path ?
Something like this (not tested as I have no Mac)

#!/bin/bash
/Applications/Stellarium.app/Contents/MacOS/stellarium $@

-- Hans