Reikan FoCal on OS X Mavericks (and the Nikon D610)

[Update: FoCal 1.9.2. has now been released – further information here]

We’ve been testing the latest release of Reikan FoCal on OS X Mavericks – the new Mac Operating System (OS X version 10.9), and from our testing along with feedback from a few customers we are seeing almost everything working as it should.

I say “almost” because Mavericks brings slightly stricter Gatekeeper rules for system security and will most likely reject a new installation of FoCal.  If you see either of the messages shown in the Symptoms section below, you should follow the simple procedure in the Installation section described below.

We have resolved this issue in a new development build, and as soon as we have the documentation for the new Nikon D610 from Nikon (which is due very shortly) we will release FoCal 1.9.2.

So, to recap:

– FoCal operates correctly on OS X Mavericks, but you have to use the procedure detailed below for a new installation (or reinstallation).

– The issue will be fixed – along with the addition of Nikon D610 support – in the next release: FoCal 1.9.2, due shortly.

Symptoms of the Problem

The Gatekeeper issue appears in a couple of ways depending on how you start FoCal.  If you click the application icon from Launchpad, you will see the following (or very similar) error:

If you run the application from Finder, you will most likely see the following (unhelpful!) error:

Installation procedure on OS X Mavericks

The installation of Mono on Mavericks should not cause any issue, and you just need to follow the standard instructions at the start of the manual if you haven’t already installed the Mono framework.

When the FoCal DMG is downloaded and mounted, you copy the FoCal application to your Applications folder by dragging it across, again as described in the manual.

You will then need to do the following before running FoCal for the first time:

1. In the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then open the “Security & Privacy” option.

2. Change the “Allow apps downloaded from:” option to “Anywhere”. You may need to click the padlock at the bottom of the window and enter your password in order to make this change. You will see a warning, but click “Allow From Anywhere” to continue.  You will be reverting this back after the next step, so leave the Security & Privacy window open for now.

3. Start FoCal. You will see a warning (below) about it being an application downloaded from the Internet. Choose “Open”. FoCal should start now.

4. Once FoCal has started, you can return to the Security & Privacy window and return the “Allow apps downloaded from:” option to the original position (most likely “Mac App Store and identified developers”) – this will revert the Gatekeeper security settings back to normal security.

FoCal should now run each time – you should NOT need to repeat the steps above unless you replace the application (i.e. an update or reinstallation).

 

As mentioned above, this issue is now fixed in our internal development builds and all future releases will NOT require this workaround.