Obs v2.1 QuickLook Install

[fsantore]

Hi Sanders-  could you please remind me. . . does installing v2.1 install the extension?  It seems to have stopped working under MacOS 15.1.  I'm also about to install the current 15.2 beta, but would like to retain the QuickLook functionality.  Thank you.  -Frank

[fsantore]

OK, I've now found the appropriate Discussions topic.  I'll start by refreshing my knowledge there.

[Sander Berents]

The Observatory 2 Quick Look extension works fine on macOS 15.1. I haven't tested macOS 15.2 beta yet, but I see no reason why it would not work. Apple removed support for the old Quick Look generators like what was used by Observatory 1 from macOS 15. Observatory 2 doesn't contain these generators anymore, and solely uses the new Quick Look extension APIs.

Apple forgot to update or replace the qlmanage command in macOS 15. It only supports the old generators, not the new extensions. So the extensions don't show up in there. The tool might still be useful with figuring out what application or plugin causes a conflict.

Make sure to run Observatory at least once after updating it to make macOS detect the Quick Look extension. If you have multiple releases of Observatory or ObservatoryDemo on your system, remove them. Check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Extensions > Quick Look and check that Observatory's Previews & Thumbnails extensions are enabled there. A reboot may be necessary when toggling that. It shouldn't, but on at least one of the 15.1 betas I tested it was necessary.

[fsantore]

Sander- To report back in, I did confirm Obs v2.1 is the only copy installed on my MacBook Pro M2 Max.  System Settings>Privacy & Security did not reveal an Extensions selection.  I found this on the web:
https://docs.zepp.com/docs/1.0/guides/faq/apple-silicon/, but "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers" was already enabled.  Since we had some prior QuickLook conflicts with Tycho that you kindly worked out, I checked there and QuickLook also did not work.  For info, right clicking a FITS image from the finder opens the generic window with an upper right button now offering to open the FITS file in PixInsight.  I may have had a PixInsight update since this previously worked.  Finally, again for info, Settings>Privacy & Security does have a Security section alerting 'Some system software requires your attention before it can be used'.  But Code Obsession is not listed there.

[fsantore]

Also, a couple comments from having looked at the Tailspin45 Discussion posts.  Since Full Disk Access seemed to work for him, I added Observatory but no luck.  You indicated this was not required, so subsequently I reverted to this removed.  'qlmanage -m plugins|grep fits' in Terminal returns no results for me.

[Sander Berents]

Sorry for the confusion, but I was typing my reply on macOS 14 Sonoma. Apparently in macOS 15 Sequoia Apple moved it to System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions. In System Settings, search for "Extensions" and you will find it.

Quick Look Extensions have nothing to do with kernel extensions.

Right clicking a FITS image in Finder should list Observatory under "Open With". If it does not, it most likely means that you have software on your system that registers its FITS support incorrectly. Tycho had that problem in the past, and more recently FITS Preview also introduced this problem, which was resolved in FITS Preview 5.3. One user reported that a very old copy of Pixelmator that would not even start anymore on his computers was the culprit for him.

[fsantore]

OK, some progress.  Selecting the information icon in your new indicated path did show two unselected Observatory QuickLook choices.  But enabling these and restarting did not resolve the problem.  Right clicking a FITS image does offer to open in PixInsight as previously stated.  Attempting to change this default using 'other' says Observatory cannot open a FIT image.  Note that my image is on iCloud, but downloaded locally.

[fsantore]

I now think the problem is Observatory cannot open a FIT file on my system.  The exact error message:  "The document "2022 OA51.00917.fit" could not be opened. Observatory cannot open files in the "FIT Document" format."

[fsantore]

OK, additional progress.  My image sets were generated by MaximDL on a Windows 11 machine.  They have the suffix '.fit'.  Changing the suffix to '.fits' makes opening in Observatory work, as well as QuickLook functionality.  I don't know when this migration to .fit occurred, but I would wonder if this is a valid FITS identifier.  Thanks.

[Sander Berents]

Since you mentioned your intend to upgrade to macOS 15.2 beta, do you sometimes install beta macOS versions on your main system? You shouldn't. If you want to try out a macOS beta, install it on an external SSD. If nothing but PixInsight shows up for FITS files, your system's LaunchServices database is likely corrupted. You may need to use lsregister to rebuild it. You first make sure that the system allows Observatory once again to open FITS files. After that, I expect Quick Look to work again as well.

For example, on my macOS 14 Sonoma system, when I enter

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -dump | grep -i fits | grep uti

I see many gov.nasa.gsfc.fits items listed. That is the correct UTI for FITS files. If your FITS related UTIs look like com.somecompany.fits or all.fits.is.mine in there, anything that is not gov.nasa.gsfc.fits, then you have software on your system that incorrectly registers its FITS file support, stealing away access from other Applications. PixInsight doesn't register an UTI for FITS files, it just registers support for the file extension, so it is more lenient. Observatory does, because of its Quick Look and Spotlight extensions.

[Sander Berents]

Our posts crossed. Observatory registers FITS, FIT and FTS. Look for an application that registers FIT incorrectly. I can open FIT files with Observatory, and they show up correctly in Quick Look.

[fsantore]

Hi Sander-  I never, ever install betas, my philosophy probably from earlier days indicates a poor risk/reward ratio.  But this one time I did in order to evaluate the new MacOS 15.2 / Vision OS 2.2 wide and ultra wide screen mirroring capabilities.  My interest in these large, sharp displays is for asteroid photogrametry. My reasoning is that the released version is just several weeks away and reports show the beta is stable.  But my error was observed before the beta install.  So I now see that a FITS file defaults to Observatory opening, while a FIT file defaults to PixInsight.  Again, I've had multiple PixInsight updates since seeing this error, including a major one.  --  As mentioned, one can change the default non-recommended opening behavior from PixInsight to Observatory for all FIT files, but then attempting to open or Quicklook one of those files generates the aforementioned error that Observatory cannot open a FIT.  I'm sure you remember that in Jan of this year you, I, and Daniel Parrot worked through the Tycho role change for FITS to 'Editor'.  May I ask, how does one verify PixInsight's FIT role?  I recognize this is very likely not an Observatory deficiency, but appreciate as in the past your knowledge and support.

[Sander Berents]

Right-click any application in macOS, select Show Package Contents, then open its Contents folder. In there is an Info.plist file that you can open, or view with Quick Look. It has the configuration. You'll see that PixInsight registers itself for handling FITS files with .fits and .fit extensions. Observatory does the same.

The issue on your system is not caused by PixInsight or Observatory. Your system's LaunchServices database may be corrupted, but because .fits does work, it is more likely that another application/extension/plugin registers itself as being able to handle files with a .fit extension, but does that incorrectly. The bug in Tycho was that it registered the FITS files with the com.tycho-tracker.fits UTI. FITS Preview had a similar bug, where it registered it with the eu.cloudmakers.fits UTI. The only correct value is gov.nasa.gsfc.fits. PixInsight doesn't register itself with an UTI so it isn't affected. Observatory doesn't have that luxury because of its extensions.

Don't modify anything in the application packages. macOS will refuse to launch signed applications if they have been modified.

[fsantore]

Thanks for the additional clarifications, and your analysis of the possible source of error.  To help isolate a Launchservices database corruption (your less likely scenario), or a nefarious other app, I tested five different machines.  All were a variant of Sequoia (15.02 to 15.2), two were Apple M2 silicon machines, and three were intel processors, and some required a fresh load of Observatory 2.1.  All performed identically refusing to load a FIT file into Observatory, failing to QuickLook the file, and all would perform correctly by simply adding an 's' to the file's fit extension.  In one case (M2 MacMini), there were only the standard Apple supplied apps (iWork),so little chance for another culprit.  I'll look for a Sonoma MacOS 14 machine (you mentioned testing on one), but I may only have earlier systems.  I don't remember the minimum OS requirement for your v2.1 and would need to look at your release notes.  Have you indeed tested with Sequoia? My testing has certainly not zeroed in on a fault, but it would be good to know if you run OK with this OS.  I see I've been producing .FIT files for a long time without much thought, so QuickLook was workin in the past on these files.  If you would like to log into my machine in some way, that would be fine as well.

[Sander Berents]

Yes I have tested Observatory with macOS 15 Sequoia. macOS 15.0 as well as macOS 15.1. I haven't tested macOS 15.2 beta yet. It has no problem with FITS files having a .fit extension in my tests. Observatory as well as its Quick Look extension open these correctly on macOS 15.0, macOS 15.1, macOS 14.7.1 and older versions.

I performed the tests with Sequoia on an external SSD, as I haven't permanently upgraded to it. I typically wait at least 6 months for a major release. These tests were with clean systems, Observatory being the only non-Apple software on it. On my regular macOS 14 Sonoma system I have lots of other software, including PixInsight, and there too .fits and .fit both work.

Observatory 2 runs on macOS 11.7 Big Sur and later.