[Solved] Creating OXZ packages on Mac

[maik]

Neither the "Compress" action in Finder from the context menu nor the zip command executed in the Terminal seem to build zip files that Oolite likes (renamed to .oxz). It complains about an invalid manifest.plist on the startup screen (btw, the message in latest.log says that the manifest.plist is missing instead of being invalid).

To verify, I downloaded another OXZ, placed it in AddOns, and Oolite did not complain upon startup. Then I unzipped it, zipped it again, renamed to .oxz and Oolite complained.

I also tried with OXZs where I removed all Mac stuff (using ZipCleaner).

What are other OXP authors on Mac doing to create valid OXZ files?

The machine I'm using is on OS X 10.7.5 (1st generation MacBook Air, cannot be upgraded further).

[Cody]

Just a thought: is there an outer folder in the .zip? An OXZ must contain only the OXP's files/folders.

[cim]

zip on the terminal should work - assuming similar syntax to the Linux command, you should be able to do it with:

Code: Select all

cd myoxp.oxp
zip -9r myoxp.oxz *

If your GUI zip program zips the directory, rather than just its contents, that will cause problems.

[Diziet Sma]

It complains about an invalid manifest.plist on the startup screen (btw, the message in latest.log says that the manifest.plist is missing instead of being invalid).

That description sounds very much like your OXZ has a "container" folder, within which the files and folders are located, rather than just the files and folders themselves. In other words, it's as Cody and cim describe above.

[maik]

Thanks for the replies, guys, but no container folder there. Remember, I also tried with a working OXZ to unzip and re-zip and it stopped working.

[Diziet Sma]

Problem confirmed on my old MacBook2,1 (also OS X 10.7.5)

<wanders off in search of solution>

What are other OXP authors on Mac doing to create valid OXZ files?

Are there any? So far, most published OXZs seem to have come from the Windows/Linux world.

[Diziet Sma]

zip on the terminal should work - assuming similar syntax to the Linux command, you should be able to do it with:

Code: Select all

cd myoxp.oxp
zip -9r myoxp.oxz *

This worked for me, exactly as written above. Maik, did you give this a shot?

[maik]

zip on the terminal should work - assuming similar syntax to the Linux command, you should be able to do it with:

Code: Select all

cd myoxp.oxp
zip -9r myoxp.oxz *

This worked for me, exactly as written above. Maik, did you give this a shot?

I did, but will try again

[Eric Walch]

I uploaded about a dozen ozx files created on the mac.

In the past, I zipped them from the finder and than ran ZipCleaner on it to remove some mac-specific files.

For the new format, I open the old OXP folder, select the content and run the "archive" command from the finder. Than I use ZipCleaner and as last, I changed the extension to oxz.

Most likely error is that you Zipped the enclosing container that the mac creates when unzipping.

I have Macs running 10.6 and 10.9. I think I used both for my uploads.

[Diziet Sma]

Most likely error is that you Zipped the enclosing container that the mac creates when unzipping.

Nope.. I was very particular about only zipping the contents. Oolite would not recognise the OXZ. Zipping from a terminal, as in cim's example, however, worked fine.

I did not, however, run ZipCleaner on it, although that ought not to matter, on the Mac itself, right?

Edit: Ok.. now I'm totally confused.. I did the same thing as before, and this time it worked..

[Norby]

I can' try but how about Keka?

[Eric Walch]

I did not, however, run ZipCleaner on it, although that ought not to matter, on the Mac itself, right?

In the past I always used a special Zip program to zip the oxp's for distribution that had te option to leave out the Mac specific files. Later on I used the archive function of the Mac itself and than ran ZipCleaner on it to remove the most common Mac specific files that confuse Windows/Linux users.

With the new oxz format, Window users will not that often look into the archive, so won't be confused as much by the extra files. So, it won't be a problem when leaving them in.

We could create a script in appletalk when you drop an oxp on it, it will zip's the content and renames the extension into oxz. (Anyone here that is familiar with applescript?)
Or alternatively, change the source of ZipCleaner so that you can drop an oxp on it and than zips it, cleans it and renames it. (ZipCleaner is open source in obj-C with a licence that would allow it.)

[Neelix]

With the new oxz format, Window users will not that often look into the archive, so won't be confused as much by the extra files. So, it won't be a problem when leaving them in.

Are you sure about that? Seems to me there are rather a lot of people interested in the nitty gritty of how things work in the Oolite community. I doubt that many who would bother to look at the contents of an OXP would be put off by the fact that it's now zipped up into a file...

- Neelix

[maik]

Most likely error is that you Zipped the enclosing container that the mac creates when unzipping.

Right on the money. Everything works as designed. Nothing to see here.

[Diziet Sma]

Most likely error is that you Zipped the enclosing container that the mac creates when unzipping.

Right on the money. Everything works as designed. Nothing to see here.

(Sorry for laughing.. but earlier on you'd insisted that was just what you hadn't done..)

Good to hear you got it worked out, anyways!