Preamble
Hi! Thanks for probably being the first person to read this FAQ file!
Questions & Answers
General
Q. How did this app come about?
A. This app is one of three where I set myself the goal of getting some small apps from thought bubble stage to release as quickly as possible. All three, including this one, were released in under a week.
This particular one was written to help fill out these annoying MS Word timesheets I had when I was working as a contractor, via some labour hire firm, for a certain government entity.
Q. What's in this tool's future?
A. This one is feature complete. Anything more would just clutter up the interface for very minimal benefit. Therefore, it's in maintenance mode, with updates mainly to fix any bugs that might crop up, or to add support for new CPU architectures Apple might spring on us at no notice.
Misc - Mac OS X
Q: Can I still use the old PPC/Intel Universal builds on Mac OS X Lion and Mountain Lion on modern hardware?
A: Yes. The Intel code in the PPC/Intel Universal builds is 32-bit, however, this will still run on Lion and Mountain Lion.
Q: Is this software coming soon to the Mac App Store?
A: At this stage, my apps are unlikely to be submitted:
- RReplace: As this app may be used to perform search and replace requests on directories outside the mandated sandbox, it's likely RReplace would not be accepted if submitted.
- Padded: As this app promotes the use of PAD files, which are used to produce profiles on competitors to the Apple App Store, it's unlikely Padded would be accepted if submitted either.
- 2Dirs1Cup, HoursCalc & RanPassUI: Without a commercial app to justify spendng the money on Apple developer account fees, these will not be submitted to the App Store.
Q: What is the future of releases for PowerPC?
A: From what I see in web logs, PowerPC Mac usage is extremely low now.
New versions will be Universal (Intel32/64) by default, but, I may build occasional releases for Universal (PowerPC/Intel32) from time to time. I'll be keeping the most recent PowerPC downloads around on the download page.
Q: Why isn't 'Check For Updates' showing the latest release?
A: For the software that includes this feature (Padded and RReplace), 'Check For Updates' also includes a check for your CPU architecture to determiine the latest version available for you. A PowwerPC Mac won't be prompted to update to a version only available for Intel32/64.
At this stage, 2Dirs1Cup, HoursCalc & RanPassUI don't have a 'Check For Updates' feature, so the above doesn't apply.
Q: This software and Mountain Lion's GateKeeper?
A: GateKeeper is Apple's poor attempt at security theatre. It's more about herding 100% of independent developers into their fee-paying developers programme and bringing more sales to the Mac App Store. Apps in Apple's developers programme may not direct customers to anywhere but the Mac App Store, you see.
To run an app: Right-click (or Cmd-Click) the app and choose Open. This step only needs to be done the first time you run the app.Misc - Windows
Q: Why do I get an error when run from a directory with characters that aren't ANSI?
Q: Unfortunately, it's related to a bug in the programming language. The workaround: Locate the binary in a directory with only ANSI characters (and not those in Kanji, Chinese script, Russian or other non-ANSI character sets).
Q: Is this software coming to the Windows 8 app store?
A: Very unlikely at this stage.
Misc - Linux/X11
Q. How do I resolve a 'application-specific initialization failed: file open failed' error?
A: The binary doesn't have sufficient permissions to run. Try changing the file permissions with chmod to 755.
Q. When I start the app from the terminal, it quit without giving me an error message. What do I do?
A: Your Linux is most likely 64-bit. Install the ia32-libs package and start the app again.
Q: How do I install this DEB package onto my AMD64 architecture Debian system?
A: Install the ia32-libs package. Then run: dpkg -i --force-architecture thepackage.deb
Q: How do I install this RPM package onto my AMD64 architecture Fedora system?
A: Fedora doesn't have a single ia32-libs package like Debian and Ubuntu. However, this page at Metztli Information Technology Blog Bits provides a text file, and a one-liner to process that text file, to install the 32-bit compatibility libs collection.
After you've followed those instructions, run: rpm -ivh thepackage.rpm
Q: The DEB/RPM package seems to indicate only a dependency on x11-common, but, not a particular version or other dependencies. What are they?
A: Software I release uses a tech similar to "static linking" which essentially means that it bundles most of the libraries it depends on inside itself. This ensures that not only are library requirements met but the library environment on your computer is the same as what I tested on. (It's always amazed me that more software developers don't do this — it would save oodles in support costs and save their customers oodles of frustration.)