07-07-2011, 10:47 PM

How can I tell if my google chrome is 64 bit.. I know I can use the "file" command but where is the executable? is the .app file the executable? I'm just wondering how os-x knows how to launch the application when clicking the .app file. There must be some information that tells the OS where the binary is...app seems like it's analogous to .exe on windows but yet I can get package contents so I'm a bit confused. I tried googling but can't really find anything on how applications are launch on mac and how the OS knows where to find the executable.. This all came about because I'm thinking of building the 64 bit chromium. anyone using 64 bit chromium? is it worth building? of course I'll need to install another 4 gigs of ram if I really want to take advantage of the 64 bit.

07-07-2011, 10:51 PM

Chrome is 32-bit only so it won't be running as a 64-bit binary. For other apps, you can always use Activity Monitor and look under the "Kind" column. As for the binaries in app bundles, you can find them in the <app name>/Contents/MacOS folder.

07-07-2011, 11:00 PM

when I click the binary in the MacOS ( in chrome case ) or if I try to run it from command line "./Google Chrome", it crashes cause it seems that it can't find the resources. why can't it find the resources yet when I click the .app file it launches? In other words.How do I launch google chrome from the command line?

07-07-2011, 11:21 PM

Think I found it..I need the "open command" still one question I have though..The MacOs usually contains the executable or the main entry point for the application so if it were 64 bit wouldn't "file <executable>" tell me if it was 64 bit or is it not always the case if it's just an entry point into the application? cause the executable in google chromes case is only 15 kb so I don't think that's the actual application itself so I'm not sure if "file " would really tell me anything

07-07-2011, 11:43 PM

file will tell you that it's an x86 app:

~ :: file /Applications/Google\ Chrome\ Canary.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome\ Canary 
/Applications/Google Chrome Canary.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome Canary: Mach-O executable i386

If it was a 64-bit, you'd see something like the following:

~ :: file /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC 
/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures
/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC (for architecture x86_64):	Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC (for architecture i386):	Mach-O executable i386

As you can see, VLC is compiled as both a 32bit and 64bit application.

As for why "./Google Chrome" didn't work, you forgot to escape the space:

./Google\ Chrome

07-08-2011, 08:10 AM

I'll try it when I get home later..Thx for ur reply..I also learned how to escape the space and about google canary

07-08-2011, 10:23 AM

Yeah, Canary is for those who like really the bleeding edge. It's "one step up" from the dev builds. Updates are more frequent as well.

As for the space escaping, it's a common mistake. Just remember that if you don't escape it, bash will think that everything after the space is a parameter for the application that you're trying to execute. For instance, if you don't escape "./Google Chrome", bash will try to execute a binary called "Google" and send "Chrome" as a parameter. Or, if you sent it "./Google Chrome Canary", it would send "Chrome" and "Canary" as parameters to "Google."

07-08-2011, 01:10 PM

Gotcha..Thanks again . So do you think it's worth building 64bit Chromium?

07-08-2011, 01:18 PM

No and you can't - 64-bit support is only available for the Linux source (here). Even if you could, there's absolutely no reason to need a 64-bit browser at this time.

07-08-2011, 01:44 PM

So what are some reasons why we don't need a 64 bit browser at this time or what the benefits would be? I noticed safari that came with my mac is 64 bit..

07-08-2011, 01:48 PM

I mean I guess u really don't want a browser using more than 4 gigs or ram anyway