Zip file corrupts project on web site

I distribute many of my programs via my research group web site. I do not charge for my programs, and have no interest in dealing with the app store. However, recently I have had problems with distributing programs that have been compressed using the compress option available in the Mac OSX Finder. The programs appear to open fine, but they are subtly corrupted so that they do not function. I have confirmed this by many researchers both in the US and abroad. I can send them the program as an email attachment and those work fine.

I am wondering if anyone else has seen this problem, and how they solved it. Is there a better way to save a program and components in folders in a compressed file that is not corrupted?

Does the same thing happen if it is compressed on another OS? If so, the issue could be with OSX or Apple.

Please check the forum and the Goggle for the topic “AppTranslocation”. The app is started in a virtual folder and you need to check how you load files. Or you sign your zip file.

I have found similar issues with zipped up copies of Windows software zipped on a windows machine.
The downloading process creates a zip file that is reported ‘corrupt’ for no apparent reason.
Copy the same zip file to a USB drive and to the target machine… works fine.

Try using a different packer (rar?) or better, wrap your app in a DMG file

Not sure if it is related, but I have moved from 32-bit to 64-bit zip files, using the MBS Plugins. This means that I have no 4 GB storage limit nor limit in the number of files.

The downside is that these files are no longer compatible with 32-bit operating systems. This is not a problem with macOS and Linux (already on 64-bit almost exclusively), but may be an issue with Windows 32-bit OSes.

I assume macOS Finder builds a 64-bit zip file. Could this be your issue?

[quote=427470:@Robert Birge]I distribute many of my programs via my research group web site. I do not charge for my programs, and have no interest in dealing with the app store. However, recently I have had problems with distributing programs that have been compressed using the compress option available in the Mac OSX Finder. The programs appear to open fine, but they are subtly corrupted so that they do not function. I have confirmed this by many researchers both in the US and abroad. I can send them the program as an email attachment and those work fine.
[/quote]

You may want to extract a Mac compressed file on a PC to look at it’s structure. Instead of simply compressing the files, it adds a folder called _MACOSX which may get in the way of your extracting software.

Thanks for the many comments and suggestions. I conclude I need to stop using .zip files and switch to .dmg files.

What is the most cost effective way of creating a .dmg installation file? .

@Robert Birge — .dmg files are the preferred way of distributing apps on macOS.

As you have probably seen many times, you can include a backdrop picture for the window of your .dmg file, add a link to the /Applications (or whatever) folder or even ask the Finder to copy the app and then put the dmg file to the Trash.

So what is the least expensive but reliable method of creating .dmg files?

@Robert Birge — Disk Utility and CLI commands are already installed but you might consider using iDMG, FreeDMG, and so on. I have never tried any of them

Goggle “how to create dmg with commandline”. For instance https://www.recitalsoftware.com/blogs/148-howto-build-a-dmg-file-from-the-command-line-on-mac-os-x .

If you want to use software I use DropDMG which has a nice CLI.

DMG Canvas. Easy graphical interface, works with AppWrapper if you need to code sign.