Applications only open with Unix Executable File!

Safari and three other applications hang.
I've tried a bunch of tricks to get them working right with no real success.
I can run Safari (and others) by opening the Unix Executable File in the .App bundle!?
*Can anyone explain to me why this works?
The applications also open fine in Safe Mode.
Any help would be great! Thanks!
More Detail Here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18176135?ac_cid=142432#18176135

Afer lots of struggling with this, I finally rebuilt Launch Services with OnyX and all is well again.
Probably my fault for messing around with the FileSystem to often experimenting with this and that.
With any luck this might hlep someone else too!
Hackintoshes are computers too!

Similar Messages

What to do with "Unix Executable Files"?

What do I do with Unix Executable Files? I've tried navigating to them in Terminal and typing in the file name but that doesn't work. How do I execute them?
I'm trying to install some web development framework software, and it appears that the command names start with the file I'm referring to but when I'm in the directory containing the Unix Executable File and type in the file name followed by a command it doesn't work. I get "command not found"
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi warpdesign,
   In old-style shell environments, all files in the current working directory were defined to be in your PATH, where the shell looks for executables. That was before Trojan Horses. Now you have to specify the current working directory in the command line. Fortunately there is a nice "shorthand" for that. If foo.sh is an executable in the current working directory then it can be invoked this way:
./foo.sh
   If you're interested in learning a little more about UNIX, I used to have a long post of links to what I think are some of the better beginning UNIX tutorials and books. However, as others posted great links and I stole them, my post became too long so I put it in a web page. Bill Scott did the same thing so here is Bill's and here is mine.
Gary
~~~~
   University politics are vicious precisely because the
   stakes are so small.
         -- C. P. Snow

I cannot open AirPortDevices Unix Executable file it says cannot execute binary file

i cannot open AirPortDevices Unix Executable file. when i try it says cannot execute binary file

If you are wiling to share one of these files via Dropbox, I have a few old Macs floating around that I can use to figure out what files these are, if they are not corrupted during the copying process.
Have you tried OpenOffice or LibreOffice?
If you can see the dates on these files, you can also try looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_word_processors to see what could have been used.
Do you recall the source machine from where these came? You have mentioned Classic II and SE 30.

Opening a Unix Executable File

I am a Mac newbie, switching from PC. I do embroidery digitizing and downloaded several embroidery designs in "zipped" format. When I viewed them in the Get Info dialog, they were listed as Unix Executable Files. When I tried to open one, a dialog box came up saying that I needed to choose a file to open them with. What program or helper app do I choose?
Respectfully,
Patricia

Sometimes ZIP files are made into self-expanding .exe files. When run on a PC, they will unzip without needing any unzipping software. They will not do this on a Mac, but Stuffit Expander may work with them
<http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/>

What do I do with unix executable files??

Hi guys,
I recently filmed a short movie with my friend. I used a Panasonic camera to film with a tdk sd card. I tried to open the video files on the sd card, but the mac can't open the files. The file extension reads as a unix executable file.
How can I open these files????
Please help!

Hi warpdesign,
   In old-style shell environments, all files in the current working directory were defined to be in your PATH, where the shell looks for executables. That was before Trojan Horses. Now you have to specify the current working directory in the command line. Fortunately there is a nice "shorthand" for that. If foo.sh is an executable in the current working directory then it can be invoked this way:
./foo.sh
   If you're interested in learning a little more about UNIX, I used to have a long post of links to what I think are some of the better beginning UNIX tutorials and books. However, as others posted great links and I stole them, my post became too long so I put it in a web page. Bill Scott did the same thing so here is Bill's and here is mine.
Gary
~~~~
   University politics are vicious precisely because the
   stakes are so small.
         -- C. P. Snow

Program won't launch into classic, OSX insists it is UNIX executable file.

I am trying to get an older database which runs fine on my older iMac (running 9.2) to launch in classic on my non-Intel Mac-mini running OSX 10.4.6. When I try to launch it, I get an OSX window saying "There is no default application specified to run the document ...". Under "Get Info" the application is called an "UNIX Executable file". How can I get OSX to label this as a Classic application instead of UNIX? All my other classic programs work just fine.
Mac-Mini Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I have had these problems converting files from older computers (OS9) to new Mac Minis (Panther and Tiger) at work and sometimes I get the blank white icon and sometimes the blue unix .exe file icon. I have 2 workarounds that might work for you. The first one is by zipping the file and transfering the zip file to the new machine. The second is using a flashdrive. I have to erase the drive on the Mini (sometimes takes two tries) and then put it in the OS 9 machine and initialize it again there using Mac OS Extended in both machines. After this I can copy the file to the drive and it shows up with the correct icon and file extension so I can open it on the Mini.
I also found out yesterday that although you can't network from a Mini to the iMac, with the latest updates on Tiger you can now drop files into the Dropbox on the Mini after you set permissions. The file I tried this with came up with a blank icon, but it did open in the original app. When we bought our first machine with Tiger they wouldn't connect and Apple phone support told me there was no way to do it, which stopped me from updating two Minis from Panther to Tiger.
iMac DV Mac OS X (10.2.x) at work: 7200s, iMacs, G4 Towers, Mac Minis - OS 7.5 thru 10.4.7

AppleWorks 6.0 Files Listed As Unix Executable Files. Unable To Open.

A client of mine backed up a number of AppleWorks 5 & 6 files last week on a PowerMac w/ OS X 10.3. I reformatted the HD, upgraded the OS to 10.4 and attempted to reinstall AppleWorks 6.0. It would not allow installation. So, I installed OS 9 Classic. Still would not allow me to install AppleWorks. Then, I installed iWork '08, having read that it would open AppleWorks files. iWork would only open a hand full of the files. The remaining 90% of the files are listed as "Unix Executable" files.
Have the files been corrupted in the move?
Any ideas on how to open/recover these files?
Thanks,
stc

If one device used during the process was not an HFS one, the AppleWorks documents may have lost their resourceFork.
Are you sure that the files are named with the name extension ".cwk" which is quite required under Mac OS X?
Then, I installed iWork '08, having read that it would open AppleWorks files.
This is right and wrong.
Iwork components are able to work this way:
Pages may open AppleWorks 6 WP document, not the AW5 ones
Numbers may open AppleWorks 6 SS document, not the AW5 ones
Keynote may open AppleWorks 6 Presentation document, not the AW5 ones
Nothing may open the DB, Paint and Draw AW documents.
There is no reason that you can't install AppleWorks on a machine running 10.4.
I installed AppleWorks 6.0.4 last week on a machine running 10.4.11.
So, at this time it seems that the main problem is to understand why you are unable to reinstall AppleWorks 6.
If you wish to know if the documents are in good health, you may attach one to a mail and send it to my mailbox.
Click my blueName to get my address.
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE lundi 25 août 2008 19:12:51)

Unix Executable Files...why won't they open?

I now have a new iMac and using Mavericks 10.9.3. I used TimeMachine to transfer my files (that contained these strange "Exec" files after I had updated to Mavericks on my previous iMac) a number of these files turned into something called "Exec" files (Black rectangular icon with green "exec" in the upper left corner). and randomly appeariing in diff software. Have these files become corrupted? Should I trash them?
Thanks for any help
Julie

In the Finder, click on these Exec files and press command+I. If the file is an AppleWorks document (even with no extension) it will tell you that. If it is a UNIX shell script with owner+group+world execute permissions, or a compiled executable from source code, it will state that it is a UNIX Executable File.
In the Terminal application, you can use the file command to discern (usually) more accurately what these black Exec documents comprise. The filenames that I use below at random, were created on my machine.
file -b dictx2
Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
file -b mvim
POSIX shell script text executable
file -b fubar.cwk # Finder Get Info says it is an AppleWorks document, and opens nicely in LibreOffice
data
The decision to delete these depends on what they are, the purpose they may continue to serve, and in the case of word processing documents, content for retention consideration.

Unix Executable Files how to open

I have a disc from a design company which contains many Unix Executable Files. I have no idea what the content files extensions are and some of the files are quite large. The cotents are important for my job. Is there any way I can open these files? A 5 hour internet search and I'm no closer to a solution, I'm just more confused. I am scared to just try adding a 'guess' extention as the contents I am hoping to find are ai, psd or other hi res but there could be text data. I am scared of destroying stuff. Can anyone help me please?
Thank you,
Amanda

If the file follows the "proper conventions", in terminal use the file command. In terminal, type the command file followed by a space. Then drag one of the files into the terminal window. You will see a line that looks something like,
file path-to-file
Hit return. If it's a file that the file command can recognize it will tell you what it thinks it is. It it isn't it will tell you it's just a data file.
If it's a executable mach-o file file will tell you that and for which architecture. But if you are getting these files from some non-Mac system the odds are pretty good they can't be executed in the mac environment because they won't follow the mac architectural coding conventions or they aren't even mach-o executables in the first place. If they did come from a mac system and are executable, then without any documentation on each file you can only guess at what they may do (or screw up). Many unix tools have a convention where if you just execute them without any arguments they may give you some minimum help info on what they do. But it may not.
Not one of those files documents what on that CD?
If file does recognize the file, say as a pdf, or text, etc., then you probably can use mac tools to open them. For example, if it's pdf (gif, jpg, etc.) open it with preview. If text, open with textedit.

Need help opening Unix Executable Files

I've recently been given the task of updating various files containing instruction manuals. However, the person who created these files is long gone and no one seems to know what program they were created in. All I know is that they are listed as "Unix Executable File" when I click on the document. I've tried opening them in TextEdit and this does me no good. Does anyone know how I can determine what program these files were originally created in so that I can open them?

Files that have no filename extensions (used by Windows and OS X, but not by OS 9) and have lost their Type and Creator codes (used by OS 9, but not by Windows or OS X), and are then written to a DOS-formatted disc by OS 9 and copied back to a Mac disc, are usually if not always misidentified by the OS X Finder as Unix executables.
Your company's old files, created in applications that ran in OS 9, probably have never had any filename extensions. Their Type and Creator codes have evidently been lost; those are what OS 9 uses to link the files to the applications that created them. If the files have also been written by OS 9 to any disk or flash drive formatted for Windows, i.e. FAT16 or FAT32, they have also lost their resource forks. The resource fork is a portion of a Mac file that has no analogous structure in a PC file. When a Mac file that contains data in its resource fork is written by OS 9 to a PC-formatted storage device, there's no place in the Windows file structure for that data — so it is simply discarded. When the Mac file is later copied back onto a Mac-formatted storage device, its resource fork is gone along with whatever data it contained, and the file may for all practical purposes be destroyed. OS X handles writing Mac files to Windows-formatted drives more gracefully, but passing files back and forth between OS 9 and OS X via a Windows-formatted storage device is asking for trouble.
I don't know just what practices have been used in moving these files from the Macs they were created on to the one you're trying to open them on now, but I suspect there has been some unwitting demolition in the process.
If copies of these files are still stored on the old Mac on which they were created, and that Mac still works, get on it and double-click the saved copies of the files to open them in the program(s) that created them, and make notes of which application opens each of the files. Be aware that the folder structure containing the files may have to be preserved exactly as it is for the files to open properly — do not reorganize anything. It may be essential, for example, for a PageMaker file to be kept in the same folder as all the individual files that have been "placed" in it using the Place command in PageMaker. If any of those files are moved elsewhere, they may be missing from the PageMaker document when it opens. I've never used Quark or Freehand, so I don't know whether they have the same requirement, or other requirements that are less than obvious.
Any of the old manuals that you're able to open in their original applications can be saved as PDF files using an invaluable OS 9-based "printer driver" called PrintToPDF. They can then be opened in Adobe Reader or Preview on your G5 running OS X, though you won't be able to edit them easily. If you require the ability to edit these files on the G5, rather than on the old computer using the apps that originally created them, you will need first to discover which OS 9-based application created each one, and then ascertain what if any current OS X-based application is able to open the file format used by that old application. In the case of PageMaker files, that will probably be Adobe InDesign or nothing. InDesign may also open old Quark files; I don't know. Aldus or Adobe Freehand files may be openable using Adobe Illustrator. These are just guesses.
Dragging and dropping the files onto MS Word or TextWrangler may reveal, buried somewhere in them, the name of the application(s) that created them. I know a PageMaker file, opened as plain text, will always contain the word "PageMaker". As for other file formats, I'm not sure.
Message was edited by: eww
Message was edited by: eww

Opening unix executable files

What application in Leopard can I use to open unix executable files?

It seems to be a file type that is given to any file (of any sort) that has had its Execute permission set. Plain text, TIFF and font files are all showing this oddness.
You can open them via the right (command) click context menu for the file and use Open with, or use GetInfo in the same menu to set the opening program, provided you know what sort of file it's likely to be.
You can remove the Execute permission using the Unix chmod command in the Terminal, but a simpler solution is to install the FileUtilsCM context menu (free) from http://www.abracode.com/free/cmworkshop/file_utils.html
See thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6125826&#6125826 for related info.
DN
Message was edited by: dcnicholls

Word documents appear as "unix executable files" and cannot be opened

Hi: I am running 10.5.5 on my Intel Imac. The problem is that many old MS Word documents have suddenly flipped into documents with no file extension, but which are identified in the Preview window as "unix executable files."
I've had this happen before, and all I had to do was add the .doc extension for them to become Word documents again. This time there is nothing I can do to change them over. I have tried opening them from Word, from Pages, from Text Edit, with no results. (I have also used all the possibilities available from Word as well).
There doesn't seem to be any pattern -- random documents in the same folder, created at the same time and modified at the same time, appear as unix files, while the others seem fine. Any ideas?
<Post Relocated by Moderator>

This is the iWeb forum. You should post your question in the Leopard forum. But I'll give a try at a possible solution:
1 - check the Finder preferences and make sure you have the option to show file extensions checked.
2 - select one of the Work files, type Command+i and in the Info window go to the Open With menu and select Word as the default application. Then click on the Apply to All... button.
OT

Unix Executable files - need help to open

Hi folks, sorry i have been looking through previous discussions re these type of files but its all well and truley above me. I have been given a video file and when copied to 'finder' it showed it was a unix executable file and it opened Terminal, again made no sense to me. I was informed to download MPEG Streamclip with no luck and the jargon I have read is goobledegook to me, sorry. Can anyone help pls in simple terms????

One thing you could try is to drop one of the files on to the vlc video player. If the file is truely a video file then odds are vlc will figure that out and be able to play it. It also has a menu to tell you info about the file so you could figure out what kind of file it actually is.
In the case of windows .wmv files you should add Flip4Mac. That would allow you to play those with QuickTime.
Similarly add Perian to add more power to QuickTime so that it too could possibly handle those files like vlc.

Problems after opening "Get Document" Unix Executable file

After importing documents from my Dell computer to macbookpro and opening a file called "Get Document" which is a Unix Executable file, I now have dozens of these type of these type of files in "Places":
file://localhost/Users/sacredsprings/%25B0%2580%25A9%25C0SR
I had Linux installed on my Dell, and having read a few threads think it may be to do with that. Can I just safely delete all these files?

Sometimes ZIP files are made into self-expanding .exe files. When run on a PC, they will unzip without needing any unzipping software. They will not do this on a Mac, but Stuffit Expander may work with them
<http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/>

Unix executable file won't open HELP!

I am having the same problem as one other person, my word folder has changed to a Unix executable file and I can't open the content in the folders anymore. I was just using the folder yesterday and now they are now working. Please help!

I'm not sure if this is your problem. But I was futzing with a file, and intentionally removed most of it's attributes, as reported by the mdls command.
I was able to get enough of them back, for the file to be recognized by the finder again.
This command lists the different importers.
$ mdimport -L
find the one that matches the filetype. Then run the following, where testfile is the file that you're having problems with.
mdimport -g /System/Library/Spotlight/XXXXXX.mdimporter testfile
I don't use Word, so I can't tell you the name of the importer file that you need. It may be possible to just
run
mdimport testfile
Nils

Applications only open with Unix Executable File!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for