Entering webcam info. causes unrecoverable crash

[crawdad62]

WeatherCat 3.1.3
Mac OSX 12.3

New Mac that I installed a fresh copy of WeatherCat. Go into preferences and everything is fine until I try to enter my webcam information. When I do WeatherCat crashes and keeps crashing when trying to open it up. Have to delete it and re-download. Any ideas? Thanks

[xairbusdriver]

Sounds like a WC pref file corruption. I'd suggest replacing the com.trixology.weathercat.plist as that file contains 14 instances/keys with partial titles of "WebCam".

Do you know how to access your home Library in Finder?

[Blicj11]

There is a wiki article regarding the plist. It may not help you this time around, but it will save you some heartache the next time this happens.

https://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=How_to_create_and_use_a_backup_of_your_WeatherCat_preferences_file

[crawdad62]

Replaced the preference file. Didn't seem to help. Here's what the crash log said:

Termination Reason:    Namespace TCC, Code 0
This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app's Info.plist must contain an NSCameraUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.

Application Specific Information:
Performing @selector(handleWebCamOptions:) from sender NSButton 0x7f7936e65270


Looks like it is related to a preference file.

[xairbusdriver]

Replaced the preference file. Didn't seem to help.

Would you please describe the steps you took to "replace" that plist?

[crawdad62]

Went to ~(username)->Library->Preferences->com.trixology.weathercat.plist->right click and duplicated->took the original and trashed it. Took the "copy" off the file name and restarted. Opened up Weathercat and navigated to the Webcam preference.

[Blicj11]

The procedure you followed won't work if the plist was already corrupted. You have to start with a clean duplicate plist. Your next option is to take screen shots of all your WC preference settings, close WC, delete the plist, trash it, delete the trash, reboot the Mac, and start over with initializing WeatherCat. When you know you have a clean install, then duplicate the plist so the next time this happens, you'll have a clean copy to use as a backup.

I don't know if you have a plist issue, but if you do, it has to be rebuilt from scratch unless you have a clean duplicate of the original. Alternatively, if you can restore the plist from a working back up using Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, Super Duper, or whatever software you use for backups, then you won't need to go through the hassle of starting over.

Hope this helps.

[crawdad62]

Ah. That worked. I had a SuperDuper clone. Replaced the preference and all is well. Thanks to the both of you.

[Blicj11]

I love it when a WeatherCatter gets a solution. Good for you! Now make yourself that duplicate plist in the same directory and you'll be glad you have it. Enjoy your weekend.

[xairbusdriver]

Replaced the preference and all is well.

Great! Apple sometimes throws us a 'curve ball' when they make things "better". The "cache" function helps make apps open faster but it also makes corrupted plists more difficult to fix. Blicj11 gave a good explanation of the "new" process (Apple Way). As Yogi once said, "You win some, you lose some, the rest get rained out!"

As you've seen, there are dozens of plists and a very long set of tabs in the WC prefs. This reminds me to get another set of screen shots of all those as a backup to my backups...