File Extensions

M

Mac Boy

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I have a file that I know is an installation file. When I double click on it, it asks me to select a program to run it with. Obviously I cannot select a program

I have tried adding file extensions to the file such as : sit, dmg, zip however none of these work.

Does anyone know of any other file extensions I can add to try and get this file to work???

Thanks
 
.pkg is the standard OS X installer type. You might also try .app.

Where did you get this file? If it was downloaded, then that probably means it's not a pkg or app, because those types are bundles, not regular files. In that case, you could try .tar or .tgz
 
Thanks for your reply...I tried all of those extensions but none of them work. I had a look at the 'get info' and it says that it is a 'Unix Executable File'

Any other ideas????

Thanks again
 
The identification of your file as a "Unix executable file" is based on its extension, which I gather is missing. To your original problem, how do you know that your file is an installation file?
 
Thanks for you reply. The person who gave me the file said it was a program. I am not sure whether the file is the actual installation file or the installation file is inside the file along with alot of other files (like a zipped file)

Hmmm there are to many 'files' in the above paragraph:p
 
Oh. Well maybe it really IS a Unix executable file, in which case you could run it from Terminal. Open Terminal, drag your file into the window, and hit Return. See what happens.
 
Tried the drag and drop for a unix executable file which changed recently after a server/ip change but it didn't work... Any ideas??
 
I would talk to the person that gave you the file and ask them exactly what kind of file it is, and what it's supposed to do. Then, report back here with that information along with the name of the file and we'll take it from there.

Without knowing exactly what kind of file it is, we really can't direct you in one direction or another -- we can keep taking shots in the dark hoping that something will work, but gathering information about the file first from the friend that gave it to you will speed up the troubleshooting process greatly.
 
It was (they all were) Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 files and were all visible and usable until we had a server change (all ips diff now) and since then they have all been unix executable. There's lots of files and stupidly some of them are the only copy!!
 
Sometimes if its not too big you can open it up in textedit and the app or program it belongs to will be in the top few lines.
 
I don't know if this will help at all but here's a little snag I ran into.

I downloaded and used HexEdit for a task. The next time I downloaded a dmg (disk image file) the system thought it was a Unix executable just like you're seeing and I couldn't mount it by double clicking, the system prompted for an app to open it with. I realized that the use of HexEdit was the likely cause so I deleted it (I still had the zipped original anyway). After that all was well.

You can do a get info (Command I after selecting the file) and try choosing DiskImageMounter to open it with.

DiskImageMounter.app is a little different in that you won't easily find it as an application, it's in /System/Library/CoreServices but it shows up just fine when you're looking for an opener app with Get Info.
 
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