On my MacBook Pro M3 Pro, I have got any kind of project (C, Java, ...).
By opening Xcode, on the main window I choose "Open Existing Project...":
then I choose one of my project folders in /Users/giuliano/Documents/NaTour21, finally, I click "Open" and this comes out:
This happens for every project. Is it mandatory to have a workspace?
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.2
If you use a command-line command such as the following on the directory and within the projects, does the quarantine flag show? If so, you will need ro remove that.
ls -ale@ /path/to/source/code
To (recursively!) remove the quarantine flag (aim carefully!):
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine -r /path/to/source/code
If you use a command-line command such as the following on the directory and within the projects, does the quarantine flag show? If so, you will need ro remove that.
ls -ale@ /path/to/source/code
To (recursively!) remove the quarantine flag (aim carefully!):
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine -r /path/to/source/code
File ownerships and protections checked on the existing projects?
Does opening a new project also (not?) work?
What was the version of Xcode in use for the existing projects? An old one?
Any add-on security or add-on VPN clients or add-on cleaners or add-on anti-malware apps involved?
What have you already checked, past the failed open of an existing project?
A Mac (here) newly upgraded to Xcode 15.2 with locally-stored project and playground files is working as expected.
giulianoaiello wrote:
A simple project was asked, not an Xcode project.
I believe you've found the answer to your question. Xcode only opens Xcode projects. It's right there on the tin.
giulianoaiello wrote:
As I told, there isn't a specific project, every project won't open. Anyway you can test every project: https://github.com/FueledBy-Pizza.
You don't have any Xcode projects there.
giulianoaiello wrote:
Is it mandatory to have a workspace?
I think that question was part of the problem. We didn't you that you didn't know what a workspace was.
A workspace is a specific kind of "umbrella" project file. You can define a workspace file that links multiple project files together to form a functional whole.
And to make it even more complicated, the answer to "is it mandatory to have a workspace?" is complicated. I just don't know. 3 years ago, I would have said "yes", in some cases. Now, I'm not so sure. I have very complicated Xcode projects right now and I'm not using workspace files. Maybe this is an improvement in recent versions of Xcode? I don't know.
But Xcode definitely needs to have some kind of project file that defines the files included in your, ahem, workspace. I build my websites in Xcode, but that's pretty unusual. For most people, Xcode is strictly a tool for building iPhone apps. I can't fault them for that. There are lots of people who make things much more difficult for themselves by not using Xcode for this. But Xcode definitely can be used as a general-purpose IDE. You will need a project file. You might also have to learn some rather obscure and poorly-supported features like makefile-based projects. But with some effort, you can use Xcode for practically anything developer-related.
If you're new to macOS and Xcode, where did these projects come from?
Were these downloaded from somewhere?
That can mean quarantine is set.
A simple project was asked, not an Xcode project.
This is the command output:
giuliano@MBP-di-Giuliano Documents % ls -ale@ server_randomChat
total 16
drwxr-xr-x@ 8 giuliano staff 256 Jan 22 22:35 .
com.apple.macl 72
drwx------+ 5 giuliano staff 160 Jan 22 22:35 ..
0: group:everyone deny delete
drwxr-xr-x 12 giuliano staff 384 Jan 22 22:35 .git
-rw-r--r-- 1 giuliano staff 73 Jan 22 22:35 README.md
drwxr-xr-x 4 giuliano staff 128 Jan 22 22:35 <file>
drwxr-xr-x 4 giuliano staff 128 Jan 22 22:35 <file>
-rw-r--r-- 1 giuliano staff 886 Jan 22 22:35 <file>
drwxr-xr-x 4 giuliano staff 128 Jan 22 22:35 <file>
So, I think the quarantine flag is not set, unfortunately.
Wild guess: are you using Desktop and Documents, and storing your stuff in iCloud?
I linked my GitHub account, then I cloned some of my repositories in Documents folder.
Do you have a benign github project that you can both verify this misbehavior with locally, and can post the project so that somebody here can download test?
I don't know if this could be useful: following the same steps I defined, if I open a single file it works as expected, so I can do on Xcode "File" -> "Add Files..." -> then I select a project and I can get it on my Xcode window. This is obviously awful, I even have to delete the reference to the file I initially opened.
As I told, there isn't a specific project, every project won't open. Anyway you can test every project: https://github.com/FueledBy-Pizza.
I even asked for help to Apple Support and Apple Developer Program Support, but this question "fall outside their realm of expertise".
Now I'm reporting this at Feedback - MacBook Pro - Apple.
Thank you all for your support anyway, if you got any news, you can freely respond to this topic.
I'm only using MacBook disk, not iCloud.
Update: reinstalled Xcode from scratch, same problem.
Xcode does not let me open existing project