Aperture requests serial number after every reboot due to improper permissions on ProAppsSystemID

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Level 1

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Aperture requests serial number after every reboot due to improper permissions on ProAppsSystemID

Background: if Aperture doesn't have write access to /Library/Application Support/ProApps/ProAppsSystemID then it continually prompts for registration information, and stores it in /tmp/ProAppsSystemID. On restart this tmp file is removed, and thus re-requested every time.

The resolution for this issue is to:

open Aperture and re-enter your registration / serial number (for the last time)
close Aperture
Execute these commands in your terminal:

mv /tmp/ProAppsSystemID ~/Library/Application\ Support/Aperture

sudo rm /Library/Application\ Support/ProApps/ProAppsSystemID

sudo ln -s ~/Library/Application\ Support/Aperture/ProAppsSystemID \

/Library/Application\ Support/ProApps/ProAppsSystemID

restart Aperture

What we are doing here is replacing the actual license file with a link to the same file where we can write to it.

Question: why is this required? Files like this should be stored in ~/Library/... or created only during registration, with admin prompt, and then read only from then on.

Posted on Oct 21, 2012 4:34 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Oct 21, 2012 5:16 AM in response to dave_ch

Question: why is this required? Files like this should be stored in ~/Library/... or created only during registration, with admin prompt, and then read only from then on.

The Aperture Licence is a one-seat licence, not a one-user licence. So naturally the registration information will be stored in the system library and not the user library, available to all users on the machine. And the installer should be able to write to the folder /Library/Application\ Support/ProApps/ ; did you enter the registration information from a regular user account and not from an admin account?

What are the permission settings on your /Library/ProApps folder? My settings are "read+Write" for admins and system.

Léonie

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Answer 2

dave_ch Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2012 11:48 AM in response to léonie

Thanks Leonie,

Your replies on this issue elsewhere lead me to the solution.

The issue is that the *installer* doesn't require write access, but actually Aperture itself, every time it runs. That's crazy given I'm not changing the licence every time. The upgrade to Aperture came via the App Store, so I'm at a loss why it requires these broken unix permissions to run *every* time.

User differs on “Library/Application Support/ProApps”; should be 0; user is 502.

If you use disk utility to repair permissions, it will fix these broken permissions, and again Aperture will prompt you for licence information every time. So Apple needs to fix this, and store the licences where everybody else does in /Library/Preferences and fix their application to use read-only permissions on startup.

This might vary on how the application was installed, maybe the full App Store release doesn't do this any longer.

I don't have a Library/ProApps folder, and I don't run my mac users with Admin permissions by default, it's a classic security risk. I guess this is why you're not seeing this issue.

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Answer 3

Nov 10, 2012 12:18 PM in response to dave_ch

Thanks Dave for the posts. Very helpful.

I started seeing this problem recently when I migrated my HD from my old to new MBP. I followed your instructions, however, registration prompt continued. As a workaround, moved the ProAppsSystemID file from its temp location to /Library/Application Support/ProApps. Check the "permissions" and they are assigned to my Admin A/C. On the restart, Aperture registration prompt did not appear.

Aperture was installed from DVD on an upgrade. Not only was I asked for my v 3 registration, but also v2.

If I understand your posts correctly, if I now "repair permissions" the system will revert the permission for this registration file to an eariler state and the prompt will begin anew. Is that correct?

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Answer 4

dave_ch Author

Level 1

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Nov 10, 2012 1:09 PM in response to Hawaiian_Starman

No, that's the reason for the symlink back to a writable location, in ~/Library/....

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Answer 5

Aye Es Oh

Level 2

330 points

Nov 12, 2012 3:09 PM in response to dave_ch

Looks like this was fixed in the new version of Aperture: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2518

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Answer 6

Jul 3, 2013 2:20 PM in response to Aye Es Oh

If it was fixed. It isn't entirely now. Aperture 3.4.5.

I have this problem and will try the workaround above, but I'd note that this is probably caused by the Apple Genius's not allowing aperture to be installed remotely from a disk. So how am I supposed to install it if their machines no longer have disk readers? What a bloody pain. Since I was doing clean install on new machine instead of using their utility to port over all the ancient garbage the only thing I figured to do was to copy the app from original drive. Now I have a version of this issue with endlessly asking to register.

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Answer 7

Jul 3, 2013 2:45 PM in response to Poltergeister

So I wasn't able to use the unix approach above as the second line failed (the file wasnt there.)

But it did copy the file to the local folder, which I then copied to the top level /Library/Application Support/ProApps/ folder via finder and seems to work fine... ie aperture opens without demanding registration.

(hopefully it works after reboot too.)

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Jul 3, 2013 2:47 PM in response to Poltergeister

You can download an Aperture 3 trial installer and use it instead of your installation dvd:
Your registration key will work with the trial.

You can download the Aperture Trial here: Aperture 3.1 Trial

Or use Disk Utility to create a disk image of your DVD on any mac that still has an optivcal drive; then transfer this disk image to your new mac.

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