Resolved Going all native - apps with kind as "Other"?

[Eneco]

Hey there,

after more than 3 years since the release of the M1, I want to go all native and get rid of old Intel apps. Therefore I checked all the apps I have installed in the system report:

Apple -> About this Mac -> More Info -> System Report -> Applications

I noticed that besides "Apple Silicon", "Intel" and "Universal" there are also apps listed as "Other". What does that mean?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Not sure. On my own Mac, I have some apps that rely on Java or XQuartz that appear as "Other" but I don't know if that's due to the requirement for an app to run them, or just because the app doesn't report something to SI in a way that it can tell.

 

[chown33]

You can go to any of the "Other" items, right-click on it, then choose "Show Package Contents". From there, there should be a "Contents" sub-dir with a "MacOS" sub-dir, in which there should be at least one file.

In a Terminal window, type the following, with a single trailing space, and DO NOT press the Return key:

file

Next, drag the files from the "MacOS" sub-dir over the Terminal window and drop them. This should expand to their pathnames in the window.

Now activate the Terminal window and press Return. The 'file' command will run and evaluate what kind of file each item is. Drag-select that output text, then copy and paste into a post here.

If there isn't a Contents or MacOS sub-dir, then tell us what is actually present, if anything.

FWIW, you can make a "fake app" simply by making a new folder and giving it a ".app" suffix. It won't do anything, and it might be interesting to see what System Info thinks its Kind is.

 

[galad]

Probably some applescript or java or .net byte code that is platform independent.

 

[Nermal]

Yep. The bottom four, at least, are using Microsoft's .Net platform. These run equally on both Intel and Arm (and even PowerPC in some cases).

 

[dsemf]

Java apps also show up as Other.

 

[Eneco]

Thanks for all your help. I managed to identify these apps and they are indeed platform independent. So nothing to worry about in terms of Rosetta.