VirtueDesktops and Leopard

Posted on 2007-11-26 (月) at 7:40 pm

Spaces sucks. For a good variety of reasons which you can read elsewhere or probably have noticed yourself if you have used any other virtual desktop application before.

Which is why I want my VirtueDesktops back, even though the development has been discontinued in favour of Spaces. Unluckily, by default it does the following on Leopard:

trinidad:~ klink$ /Users/Shared/Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops 
dyld: Library not loaded: @executable_path/../Frameworks/TAUserInterfaceElements.framework/Versions/A/TAUserInterfaceElements
  Referenced from: /Users/Shared/Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops
  Reason: unsafe use of @executable_path in /Users/Shared/Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops with setuid binary
Trace/BPT trap

Luckily, there is a quick hack around that: start it as root. Not exactly the nicest solution, but it helps, and I am pretty happy it does. Here is the walk-through:

trinidad:~ klink$ sudo su
Password:
sh-3.2# mkdir -p Library/Application\ Support 
sh-3.2# cp -r ~klink/Library/Application\ Support/VirtueDesktops Library/Application\ Support/
sh-3.2# /Users/Shared/Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops &
sh-3.2# exit

You may of course need to tweak a few paths here and there (~klink and /Users/Shared/Applications/ might not exist on your system).

Last modified: 2007-11-26 (月) at 7:42 pm

Comments on VirtueDesktops and Leopard | 15 comments | Post a comment

Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard

Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-8 (土) at 9:59 am

For some reason, VirtueDesktops works on PPC based Macs running Leopard. It works on Intel based Macs runnning Tiger, but it does not work on Intel based Macs runnning Leopard! This hack does the trick though.

Universal binary?

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Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard

Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2007-12-12 (水) at 7:52 pm
To make this a little less annoying, i.e. having to fire up root every time you want to load Virtue, I put together a little sudo magic.
First, make some changes to the VirtueDesktops package:
```
berto$ cd /path/to/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS
berto$ mv VirtueDesktops{,.main}
berto$ echo "#!/bin/bash

sudo $(dirname $0)/VirtueDesktops.main" > VirtueDesktops
```
This renames the binary to VirtueDesktops.main and creates a simple shell script to run the binary using sudo.
Next, edit the sudoers file:
```
berto$ sudo su - 
root# visudo
```
and add the following line to the bottom of the file:
```
%admin   ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /path/to/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops.main
```
That allows you to run the VirtueDesktops binary without typing a password. Now you should be able to launch VirtueDesktops by simply double clicking the app in the Finder.
P.S. Your code blocks are impossible to read!
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- Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-5 (水) at 8:36 pm
  
  a missing "chmod 755 VirtuelDesktops" in this instruction and a "sudo su -" instead of "sudo su" in the original instruction and things work like a charm!
  
  Thanks a bundle!
  
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  Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-5 (水) at 11:54 pm
  
  I am not skilled at working anything in terminal . . . at all. Any advice on how do this? I want to do it because of a cool application called slapbook. (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22148) Anyway I downloaded slapbook but I need virtuedesktops to work slapbook. Please help, post a reply comment to this comment. Thank you so much. You all rock.
  
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  Re: Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-6 (木) at 11:29 pm
  
  Don't be affraid of the Terminal. Follow the instructions slowly (or use this http://www.æbletræet.dk/index.php?title=VirtueDesktops) and you will get there.
  
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  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-18 (火) at 3:56 pm
  
  Ok thanks a ton. Just one problem. I'm pretty sure that website is in German.
  
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- Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2007-12-29 (土) at 7:13 am
  
  I am still trying to install the virtuedesktops on my macbook pro leopard. I load it into the apps folder then double click. The icon expands like its opening but nothing happens. I see your code but am not sure where to enter it in (terminal)?
  
  thanks!
  
  email me rafikitim@hotmail.com
  
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  Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-1-7 (月) at 7:56 pm
  
  Yes, that would have to be entered in the terminal. You can make it clickable by using the code in the comment above.
  
  alech
  
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- Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-6 (木) at 5:10 am
  
  I'm trying to install the app in leopard but it still doesn't run....... when I type:
  echo "#!/bin/bash
  I get this message:
  -sh: !/bin/bash: event not found
  any ideas?? I'm such a noob
  
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  Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-3-6 (木) at 11:27 pm
  
  Normally echo will not terminate until given the last ", but not in this case?
  
  Anyhu, I used vi to make the file with the correct contents and did a sudo chmod 755 afterwards (as I suggested in an earlier comment)
  
  VirtueDesktops still doesn't work perfectly .. it crashes oftent, but it is possible to use it and it's still better than Spaces.
  
  I whish someone with more skills than me would take up the development of VirtueDesktops for Leopard, regardless of the fact that Apple have released their sub standard Spaces..
  
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  Re: Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-11-4 (火) at 9:40 pm
  
  I'm on an Intel Based Macbook Pro (2008 made), and of course on Leopard. What did I do to get it working was just this:
  
  1.Downloaded the file from http://virtuedesktops.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/VirtueDesktops_0.54beta5.zip
  
  2.Unzip and moved the VirtueDesktops.app to the Applications folder
  
  3.Opened the Terminal:
  
  sudo su
  
  chmod 755 /Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops
  
  echo "%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops" >> /private/etc/sudoers
  
  4.Opened the VirtueDesktops.app, when the dialog pop up asked me the thing about permissions I just clicked "Ignore".
  
  My VirtueDesktops is working great now!
  
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  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2009-1-19 (月) at 9:53 am
  
  thanks ... it works... u r so smart
  
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  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2009-2-27 (金) at 3:16 pm
  
  2.Unzip and moved the VirtueDesktops.app to the Applications folder
  
  3.Opened the Terminal: sudo su chmod 755 /Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops
  
  echo "%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /Applications/VirtueDesktops.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtueDesktops" >> /private/etc/sudoers
  
  4.Opened the VirtueDesktops.app, when the dialog pop up asked me the thing about permissions I just clicked "Ignore".
  
  yeah, this one works even on my hackintosh clone !!! thank you very much !
  
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  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard
  
  Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2009-3-26 (木) at 1:07 am
  
  gracias gracias!
  
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Re: VirtueDesktops and Leopard

Written by Anonymous Coward (0) on 2008-7-11 (金) at 8:00 am

The problem seams related to new security features in Leopard.
See this about @executable_path and this about applications (or users) needing to be members of procmod

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