Command line "launch path not accessible"

Question

I recently found out that I can create Swift command line scripts.

I decided to see if I could build my Xamarin project using it.

Unfortunately I am getting the following error and I don't know how to fix it.

*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: 'launch path not accessible'

Here is my script:

#!/usr/bin/env swift

import Foundation

print("Building Script")

let fileManager = NSFileManager.defaultManager()
let path = fileManager.currentDirectoryPath

func shell(launchPath: String, arguments: [String] = []) -> NSString? {

    let task = NSTask()
    task.launchPath = launchPath
    task.arguments = arguments

    let pipe = NSPipe()
    task.standardOutput = pipe
    task.launch()

    let data = pipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
    let output = NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)

    return output
}

if let output = shell("/Applications/Xamarin\\ Studio.app/Contents/MacOS/mdtool", arguments: ["-v build", "\"--configuration:Beta|iPhone\"", "MyApp.iOS.sln"]) {
    print(output)
}

Any thoughts?

Solution 1

I think the problem is that you actually want to execute the shell and have it execute the mdtool, rather than directly execute mdtool

Try passing "/bin/bash" as the launchpath, and then include the path to mdtool as part of the argument string.

Solution 2

Recently I encounter a similar problem, but my solution is different.

I fix the problem by changing the permission mode of the script. Specifically, chmod 777 xxx. The key is to give the execution permission.

Let's conduct a controlled experiment to verify it:

1. prepare a script with path /tmp/a.sh and permission 666

   The content of /tmp/a.sh:

#!/bin/sh
echo aaa

2. prepare a swift script to launch the script:

import Foundation

let fileManager = FileManager.default
let path = fileManager.currentDirectoryPath

func shell(launchPath: String, arguments: [String] = []) -> NSString? {

    let task = Process()
    task.launchPath = launchPath
    task.arguments = arguments

    let pipe = Pipe()
    task.standardOutput = pipe
    task.launch()

    let data = pipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
    let output = NSString(data: data, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue)

    return output
}

if let output = shell(launchPath: "/tmp/a.sh", arguments: []) {
    print(output)
}

The output is:

... *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', 
reason: 'launch path not accessible'

3. change the permission of /tmp/a.sh to 777 (by granting the execution permission) and then re-run the swift script:

aaa

Comments

[mgChristopher]

When I changed the code to look like this shell("/bin/bash", arguments: ["/Applications/Xamarin\\ Studio.app/Contents/MacOS/mdtool", "-v build", "\"--configuration:Beta|iPhone\"", "MyApp.iOS.sln"]) I now longer get the exception. Instead I get /bin/bash: /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app/Contents/MacOS/mdtool: No such file or directory

[Jason]

interesting - I wonder if escaping the space is necessary? Or maybe you need a single \ instead of \\? I would play with that, or try creating a symlink that doesn't have the space in it?

[mgChristopher]

I have it working! shell("/bin/bash", arguments: ["-c", "'/Applications/Xamarin Studio.app/Contents/MacOS/mdtool' -v build '--configuration:Beta|iPhone' MyApp.iOS.sln"]) You help has been invaluable. What is the best way to share the answer on this?