# [BUG] gitk assumes availability of `osascript` on macos 4 messages from 2025-09-20 to 2025-09-22. Participants: Robert Scott, Eric Sunshine, Johannes Sixt. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/64175 ## Robert Scott, 2025-09-20 11:59 Subject: [BUG] gitk assumes availability of `osascript` on macos Message-ID: <2994140.eGJsNajkDb@alfonse> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/2994140.eGJsNajkDb%40alfonse ``` Hi, Tiny one here. On macos, gitk (tested 2.50.1) attempts to call `osascript` so it can focus/raise the UI. But it fails hard if `osascript` isn't present in the $PATH. There are a number of reasons `osascript` might not be available in a particular environment, e.g. if launched from inside a "pure" nix shell, but seeing as it's just a quality-of-life feature it would be nice if failures to call `osascript` could just be ignored. Thanks, robert. ``` ## Eric Sunshine, 2025-09-20 19:52 Subject: Re: [BUG] gitk assumes availability of `osascript` on macos Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAPig%2BcTRYK%2B5ezmGxz0d1TwMTu1RKy7Xj05CzDE2-i14aUpSAg%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <2994140.eGJsNajkDb@alfonse> ``` On Sat, Sep 20, 2025 at 8:07 AM Robert Scott wrote: > Tiny one here. On macos, gitk (tested 2.50.1) attempts to call `osascript` so > it can focus/raise the UI. But it fails hard if `osascript` isn't present in > the $PATH. > > There are a number of reasons `osascript` might not be available in a > particular environment, e.g. if launched from inside a "pure" nix shell, but > seeing as it's just a quality-of-life feature it would be nice if failures to > call `osascript` could just be ignored. A patch[*] was posted to the mailing list years ago which, I believe, should fix this problem for you. Unfortunately, the patch was never picked up due to the then-maintainer of Gitk being missing-in-action. Perhaps the current Gitk maintainer (Cc:'d) will pick up the patch. [*]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/20180724065120.7664-1-sunshine@sunshineco.com/ ``` ## Johannes Sixt, 2025-09-22 06:37 Subject: Re: [BUG] gitk assumes availability of `osascript` on macos Message-ID: <92bdb432-1f6d-43d9-a93b-8cbaf3c4a7fa@kdbg.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/92bdb432-1f6d-43d9-a93b-8cbaf3c4a7fa%40kdbg.org In-Reply-To: ``` Am 20.09.25 um 21:52 schrieb Eric Sunshine: > On Sat, Sep 20, 2025 at 8:07 AM Robert Scott wrote: >> Tiny one here. On macos, gitk (tested 2.50.1) attempts to call `osascript` so >> it can focus/raise the UI. But it fails hard if `osascript` isn't present in >> the $PATH. >> >> There are a number of reasons `osascript` might not be available in a >> particular environment, e.g. if launched from inside a "pure" nix shell, but >> seeing as it's just a quality-of-life feature it would be nice if failures to >> call `osascript` could just be ignored. > > A patch[*] was posted to the mailing list years ago which, I believe, > should fix this problem for you. Unfortunately, the patch was never > picked up due to the then-maintainer of Gitk being missing-in-action. > Perhaps the current Gitk maintainer (Cc:'d) will pick up the patch. > > [*]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/20180724065120.7664-1-sunshine@sunshineco.com/ I've picked up the patch: https://github.com/j6t/gitk/compare/master...es/ignore-osascript-failure Please test and suggest improvements. Should the links in the commit message be redirected to lore.kernel.org? -- Hannes ``` ## Eric Sunshine, 2025-09-22 09:30 Subject: Re: [BUG] gitk assumes availability of `osascript` on macos Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAPig%2BcQvjt8%2B3EGSj%3D-wP6p92402vuSg6FtU-kQ_27Ue__upsA%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <92bdb432-1f6d-43d9-a93b-8cbaf3c4a7fa@kdbg.org> ``` On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 2:37 AM Johannes Sixt wrote: > Am 20.09.25 um 21:52 schrieb Eric Sunshine: > > On Sat, Sep 20, 2025 at 8:07 AM Robert Scott wrote: > >> Tiny one here. On macos, gitk (tested 2.50.1) attempts to call `osascript` so > >> it can focus/raise the UI. But it fails hard if `osascript` isn't present in > >> the $PATH. > >> > >> There are a number of reasons `osascript` might not be available in a > >> particular environment, e.g. if launched from inside a "pure" nix shell, but > >> seeing as it's just a quality-of-life feature it would be nice if failures to > >> call `osascript` could just be ignored. > > > > A patch[*] was posted to the mailing list years ago which, I believe, > > should fix this problem for you. Unfortunately, the patch was never > > picked up due to the then-maintainer of Gitk being missing-in-action. > > Perhaps the current Gitk maintainer (Cc:'d) will pick up the patch. > > > > [*]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/20180724065120.7664-1-sunshine@sunshineco.com/ > > I've picked up the patch: > https://github.com/j6t/gitk/compare/master...es/ignore-osascript-failure Thank you. Looks good to me. > Please test and suggest improvements. Should the links in the commit > message be redirected to lore.kernel.org? Updating the links would not be a bad idea. Here are the updated links if you want to amend locally: [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/D295145E-7596-4409-9681-D8ADBB9EBB0C@me.com/ [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/CABNJ2G+h3zh+=wLA0KHjUn8TsfhqUK1Kn-1_=6hnXVRJUPhuuA@mail.gmail.com/ Otherwise, I can resend. ```