License window comes up repeatedly

I’m one of the designers of Hook productivity app for macOS. I’m encountering a problem that (fortunately) my end users aren’t having. It is that the license window for the DMG I create with DropDMG (available here https://hookproductivity.com/download) pops up on my Mac at times when it shouldn’t. E.g., I built and published a DMG yesterday evening.

This evening, I installed the LaunchBar updater, and the Hook DMG license/installation screens came up. When I eject the DMG, the license window comes up again. It loops a bit (even though I clicked “I disagree”).

This problem just started happening about a month ago (I think).

Logging out does not seem to prevent this, but I think rebooting clears it up.

I can attach my DropDMG configuration file if that helps.

I thoroughly appreciate the DropDMG app. It’s made it very easy and convenient for me to build Hook DMG’s that are very useful to my users.

Hmm, that’s strange. There’s no code in the .dmg itself, so I think the only way the license can come up is if an app or other software asks macOS to open the .dmg file. Where is it stored? Does the problem still occur if you move or rename it and reboot? I would also focus on reducing the number of running apps and then adding them back slowly to see if one is triggering the behavior.

Thanks, Michael.

Where is it stored?

the DMG was in ~/DMGs-hook/

Does the problem still occur if you move or rename it and reboot?

Yes, it still happened after a reboot.

I have found a big clue: there are duplicate HookAutoLaunchHelper.app entries in my Launch Services database (as I discussed on the Hook forum ([FIXED] Hook doesn't launch at restart - #3 by LucB - Bug Reports - Hookmark Forum)

More specifically on my system

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -dump | grep '.*path.*HookAutoLaunchHelper.app'

returns (amongst other results)

path:          /Volumes/Hook Public Beta 1.0-beta/Hook.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/HookAutoLaunchHelper.app

Deleting the DMG prevents the OS from trying to remount the DMG (as the DMG is gone).

Based on your answer and the above, the source of the problem seems to be on my side (and macOS’ quirky LaunchServices framework.) Our Hook productivity app (which is still in public beta) has new code to tidy up its lsregister entries. I’ll discuss with the CogSci Apps developer who is dealing with login issues.

Thanks again for your help.

Glad you figured it out. Yeah, Launch Services should not be holding a reference to the copy of the app on the .dmg unless you had launched it from there.

we still occasionally have this problem. It seems to happen for background apps when users install them from the DMG. I’ve seen this with some other apps too. The solution is to delete the DMG after using it. Some vendors use installers that prompt to delete the DMG after download. Is there a convenient way in DropDMG to prompt user offering to delete the DMG, or anyone have some tips?

DropDMG can’t do that because no code is run when using a .dmg. However, perhaps it would make sense for your helper to show a warning or quit itself if it detects being launched from a location other than /Applications.

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