Sigil quitting unexpectedly at open (Catalina 10.15.7)

[JMW33]

Hello all! Full-time dunce with a Sigil launch problem here. I'm trying to get Sigil 1.3.0 to run on Catalina 10.15.7, having successfully run earlier Sigils on earlier Mac OSs. I'm incredibly unsophisticated about this but I've made Sigil work fine before by just downloading it and installing it like anything else. Now, though, Sigil keeps crashing when I try to open it (having cleared it in the security tab) saying that it "quit unexpectedly", and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Things I've tried after seeing them suggested in other threads/on the Wiki:
- Unpacking the .txz file with the Archive Utility, the Unarchiver, and through Terminal
- Downloading and installing ActiveTcl 8.6 (though after running the installer I don't see any indication that it's installed, I'm not sure if I should see it in applications or anything - again, I am a dunce)
- Unpacking Sigil on an external hard drive and then moving it onto the Mac

The text I get when I click "show details" on the error message is absolutely MASSIVE, so I have no idea what in there is useful or worth looking at. But I can absolute post a portion (or the entirety) of it here if that would help diagnose the problem.

I don't know if that's enough information, but if any of you have any suspicions about what I'm doing wrong and could steer me towards getting Sigil back in my life, I would be massively appreciative!

Thank you!

[KevinH]

Please copy and zip up the complete error message and post it here.

A few other things to try ...

1. Go to your sigil preferences folder and copy and then rename the sigil.ini file

2. Try opening Sigil by directly double clicking on the app icon inside the Applications folder itself

3. Try by dragging and dropping a known good epub on the Sigil app icon

4. Use Terminal.app to launch Sigil to see if that gives more info
- Double Click on Terminal.app in Applications
- once Terminal.app opens type the following in the Terminal and hit return
open /Applications/Sigil.app

- copy any error messages

[KevinH]

5. Download a fresh copy of the txz file then
manually drag the txz file out of Downloads to your Desktop- the manual dragging us important, never unpack or try to run anything from Downloads
- expand the .txz file on the Desktop.
- move the resulting Sigil.app to /Applications
- In /Applications right click on Sigil.app and choose open
- If it does not launch right click on the Sigil.app and choose open a second time.
It should then launch.

[JMW33]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Please copy and zip up the complete error message and post it here.

A few other things to try ...

1. Go to your sigil preferences folder and copy and then rename the sigil.ini file

2. Try opening Sigil by directly double clicking on the app icon inside the Applications folder itself

3. Try by dragging and dropping a known good epub on the Sigil app icon

4. Use Terminal.app to launch Sigil to see if that gives more info
- Double Click on Terminal.app in Applications
- once Terminal.app opens type the following in the Terminal and hit return
open /Applications/Sigil.app

- copy any error messages

Hey Kevin,

Thanks for the suggestions! Had a go at 2-4, and no luck on any. For the first recommendation, would Sigil preferences be in the folders I get when I go into "show package contents" of Sigil in Finder? I didn't see a preferences folder, and a search for "sigil.ini" came up empty, so maybe there's my problem somehow?

At any rate, I've attached a zipped PDF of my error message. Let me know if there's a better format to send it in, I just figured PDF was better than a word document!

Thank you so much!

[JMW33]

Originally Posted by KevinH

5. Download a fresh copy of the txz file then
manually drag the txz file out of Downloads to your Desktop- the manual dragging us important, never unpack or try to run anything from Downloads
- expand the .txz file on the Desktop.
- move the resulting Sigil.app to /Applications
- In /Applications right click on Sigil.app and choose open
- If it does not launch right click on the Sigil.app and choose open a second time.
It should then launch.

Tried that a few times and no luck unfortunately, just keeps crashing on me and giving that big old error message

[KevinH]

Your error message says its an error reading from the sigil.ini file. So it got corrupted.
On a standard macOS install, the sigil.ini file is located here:

"/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/sigil-ebook/sigil/sigil.ini"

Where you replace USERNAME with your username. Note the space in "Application Support"

If you do not see a Library folder in your home directory (for some silly reason Apple started hiding it) use the Go to menu to get there.

Or alternatively, you can use Terminal.app to delete that file.

Just ask if you would prefer that approach and I can lead you through the terminal commands.

[KevinH]

Here are the Terminal.app commands for the record:
In Applications double click on the Terminal.app program then type the following commands hitting return after each line:

cd
cd Library
cd "Application Support"
cd sigil-ebook/sigil
rm sigil.ini

[JMW33]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Your error message says its an error reading from the sigil.ini file. So it got corrupted.
On a standard macOS install, the sigil.ini file is located here:

"/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/sigil-ebook/sigil/sigil.ini"

Where you replace USERNAME with your username. Note the space in "Application Support"

If you do not see a Library folder in your home directory (for some silly reason Apple started hiding it) use the Go to menu to get there.

Or alternatively, you can use Terminal.app to delete that file.

Just ask if you would prefer that approach and I can lead you through the terminal commands.

Amazing! It looks like that did it! Thank you so much, there is no universe in which I would have figured that out on my own haha. Thanks!

[KevinH]

Good to hear,
I was guessing but your error message is what told me where the issue was.
Once Sigil opens, you can go to Sigil Preferences and in any of the Preferences Windows there should be a button in the lower left that will take you directly to your Sigil Preferences Folder where plugins, ini files, and etc are stored.

Unfortunately, since Sigil could not launch, we had to navigate there manually.

[KevinH]

BTW, once I get all windows and menus set just the way I like, I exit out out Sigil then go and make a backup copy of the known good sigil.ini file that I can revert to if that file gets corrupted at all in the future.