[txmt-dev] Re: Declaring imported UTIs from tmBundle?

[Allan Odgaard]

On 21 May 2016, at 15:46, Per Persson wrote:

>> The problem is that this information must be in the application’s 
>> Info.plist, so if TextMate were to import this from bundles, it would 
>> have to rewrite its own Info.plist […]
> TextMate doesn't necessarily have to modify its own Info.plist, right? 
> By constructing a helper app, e.g. in Application Support, with a 
> tailored Info.plist based on info collected from the active bundles, 
> and then using lsregister to register/unregister UTI types there 
> wouldn't be any need to even run it (example below, based on 
> http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/175395).

That is true, but if you want custom icons for the file types, they must 
be assigned to this helper app.

This means the app will be launched when opening one of the file types, 
and that’s where the signing requirement comes in, otherwise we’ll 
get a GateKeeper warning.

If the user has the developer tools, it might be possible to do ad-hoc 
signing, otherwise there is the ability to exclude certain files from 
the signing, so it could maybe be possible to include a signed helper 
app in TextMate.app where Info.plist and the Contents/Resources folder 
are excluded from the signing, but I have not tested if the system will 
actually allow this (the feature is so that language files can be 
stripped without breaking the signature, so it might be limited in 
scope).

So all in all, it might be made to work, but it’s definitely a kludge, 
and while I do like the thought of having the file type UTI definitions 
distributed over the bundles, it’s really no problem to add to 
TextMate’s Info.plist (via a PR), the only downside here is that only 
the major file types get custom icons, the rest share a generic document 
icon.

That said, if you do a proof-of-concept for the above, I’m certainly 
willing to give it a try and possibly merge it into TextMate, as we 
would only need the helper when installing bundles with new UTI 
definitions, so the implementation (e.g. right-clicking a file and 
seeing it’s assigned to “TextMate Helper”, or seeing “TextMate 
Helper” launching and quitting when opening the file) shouldn’t show 
up for “normal use”.

Btw: Using the main textmate at lists.macromates.com even for “dev” 
talk is perfectly fine, as it’s low traffic and the lines between 
“dev” and “users” with TextMate is blurry.