App fails to launch on macOS: “RepoBar can’t be opened” after latest update

[eduwass]

Description

After updating RepoBar to the latest version (via the in-app update prompt), the app no longer launches. On first install through Homebrew everything worked correctly. The problem only appeared after accepting the updater dialog inside the app.

Finder only shows:

The application "RepoBar.app" can’t be opened

Launching the binary directly:

"/Applications/RepoBar.app/Contents/MacOS/RepoBar"
zsh: killed

System log shows the actual reason:

amfid: /Applications/RepoBar.app/Contents/MacOS/RepoBar not valid:
Error Domain=AppleMobileFileIntegrityError Code=-413 "No matching profile found"
Code has restricted entitlements, but the validation of its code signature failed.
Security policy would not allow process: /Applications/RepoBar.app/Contents/MacOS/RepoBar

Gatekeeper assessment succeeds:

spctl --assess --verbose "/Applications/RepoBar.app"
→ accepted, notarized Developer ID

The app is signed and notarized, but AMFI rejects it due to restricted entitlements without a matching provisioning profile.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install RepoBar via Homebrew.
2. Launch RepoBar (works).
3. Accept the in-app update prompt.
4. Try launching RepoBar after the update.
5. App is killed immediately and cannot be opened.

Environment

• macOS 15.7.3 (24G419)
• Initial install: Homebrew
• Update method: in-app Sparkle updater
• RepoBar version: latest as of Jan 22, 2026

Expected behavior

RepoBar should launch normally after updating.

Actual behavior

macOS kernel kills the process at launch due to signature/entitlement mismatch.

Notes

Ad-hoc re-signing does not fix the issue.
Update: ad-hoc re-signing does allow the app to launch (see comment below).

[Moulick]

Ad-hoc signing did allow the app to open. This is on MacOS Tahoe

codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/RepoBar.app && \
xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RepoBar.app

[eduwass]

Thanks @Moulick confirming that the ad-hoc re-signing workaround also makes the app launch on macOS 15.7.3 for me.

I did get some keychain access prompts on first launch, after accepting them RepoBar launched normally and it looks like everything works.

[eduwass]

Side note @steipete : CodexBar’s latest update also fails on launch on my machine (resource bundle path issue).
Might be related?

[romainhe]

Ad-hoc signing problem on my side 😶 (on Tahoe 26.2 (25C56))

codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/RepoBar.app && \
xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RepoBar.app
/Applications/RepoBar.app: replacing existing signature
/Applications/RepoBar.app: internal error in Code Signing subsystem
In subcomponent: /Applications/RepoBar.app/Contents/MacOS/repobarcli

[ggfevans]

Ad-hoc signing did allow the app to open. This is on MacOS Tahoe

codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/RepoBar.app &&
xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RepoBar.app

I also hit this issue on Tahoe / macOS 26.2 and this was a successful workaround

[geeknees]

I was able to fix the Operation not permitted error during re-signing by avoiding working directly under /Applications.

It seems macOS protections (TCC / SIP / permissions) can block codesign --deep when the app is located in /Applications. Re-signing from a user-writable directory is more reliable.

Workaround

1. Copy the app to a user directory (e.g. ~/Applications or /tmp):

mkdir -p ~/Applications
cp -R /Applications/RepoBar.app ~/Applications/RepoBar.app

2. Re-sign and remove quarantine attribute:

codesign --force --deep --sign - ~/Applications/RepoBar.app
xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine ~/Applications/RepoBar.app

3. Launch from Finder to confirm it opens correctly.

4. If it works, move it back to /Applications:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/RepoBar.app
sudo cp -R ~/Applications/RepoBar.app /Applications/RepoBar.app
sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RepoBar.app

After doing this, RepoBar launched successfully.

Hope this helps anyone hitting the same issue 👍

[davewd]

#36