Launch Services Database

[25thirtysix]

I have a Mac Mini M1 running macOS Sonoma 14.6.1. I have this really strange problem that when I right click on an image file (any image format) to "Open with…" one of the open with options is Chromium. However, Chromium is NOT installed on my Mac.

I've run the app Onyx many times and it rebuilds the Launch Services Database. After that "Chromium" is not listed in the "open with" option. A few days later "Chromium" is back!!! Clearly one of my apps is inserting this option.

If I do a search of the Library for "Chromium" the only result is: "BBEdit Preferences Backup.plist"

Editing BBEdit Preferences Backup.plist shows two keys:

<string>file:///Users/me/Library/Application%20Support/Chromium/Default/README</string>

and

<string>file:///Users/me/Library/Application%20Support/Chromium/Default/README</string>

The directory Library/Application%20Support/Chromium does not exist!

Having "Chromium" in the "Open with" list is no big problem, it's just annoying.

It would be really nice to know how "Chromium" gets there and if there is a way to remove it.

Regards,
Peter

 

[MacBiter]

I'm not absolutely sure, but I would make an educated guess that %20 is Unicode for a space, and therefore the plist is referring to Application Support. Have a look there for a Chromium folder, and if you're absolutely certain that nothing uses it, try removing it from Application Support to somewhere else such as your Desktop. If you don't experience any problems after a few days then you could trash it.

 

[Slydude]

Which web browsers do you have installed? If I'm not mistaken some of them may be the reason that's there if it's in Application Support.

 

[25thirtysix]

Which web browsers do you have installed? If I'm not mistaken some of them may be the reason that's there if it's in Application Support.

Only Safari. I have had VSCode installed (but now deleted). Some of my digging has referenced it.

I found a command line script that searched for remnant VSCode bits. The result of the script is a very large text file with many references to “Chromium”. Here is a sample:

path:/Users/peteranderson/.vscode/extensions/yzane.markdown-pdf-1.5.0/node_modules/puppeteer-core/.local-chromium/mac-722234/chrome-mac/Chromium.app (0x1bb8)
directory: ~
name: Chromium
displayName: Chromium
localizedNames: "am" = "Chromium", "ar" = "Chromium", "bg" = "Chromium",

So I have deleted all the VSCode remnants and so far “Chromium” has not yet reappeared in the “Open with…” menu.

Regards,
Peter

 

[pm-r]

"Open with…" one of the open with options is Chromium. However, Chromium is NOT installed on my Mac.

I don't know why Chromium would be showing, especially since as you say it's not installed, but I would be inclined to run Find Any File.app and use it to search any file that contains " chromium" (no quotes) and then look through the list of any such files that it might find.

Hopefully, something might become obvious as to why it's showing in the open-with list.

You can find it to download here if you don't already have it:

Find Any File

findanyfile.app

- Patrick
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[25thirtysix]

Patrick,

Chromium has NEVER been installed. The reference in my “Open with…” menu is inserted by some other app, my best guess was VSCode. VSCode is very difficult to completely uninstall. Once I found the details of all the directories I was able to find several files with lots of references to “Chromium”.
Is “FindAntFile” more thorough than searching in Finder?

Thanks,
Peter

 

[Slydude]

I'm basically a casual user of Find any File. Most of the time the search function in Finder meets my needs. This is a case though where many people might prefer Find Any File. Someone else will correct me if I'm wrong but I think one of the differences is that Find Any File can search certain areas that Spotlight/Finder do not search by default.

 

[pm-r]

@ 25thirtysix

Is “FindAntFile” more thorough than searching in Finder?

One word... YES. Big understatement!!!
IMHO, it is much more thorough than any Finder Associated search and also much easier to use and it is fast and doesn't rely on anything to do with Finder or Spotlight. It also will search everywhere which the Finder based searches won't always do or allow.

Try it, I'm sure you'll like it.



- Patrick
=======

 

[MacBiter]

Chromium has NEVER been installed.

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean you may not have tried - however briefly - a browser that either incorporates / is based on / uses some of the code (it's open source) .. of Chromium.

 

[Rod]

Its amazing what does get installed albeit accidentally at times, by developers. For example on Brave which I use as my default browser I momentarily turned off Brave Shields just before writing this reply. I wanted to see the difference on this site for another forum thread. After a couple of seconds a dialogue box popped up saying "Google wants to instal Widevine" and the option to Accept or Refuse. I had never seen this popup before thanks, no doubt, to Brave's ad and tracker blocking. According to Reddit it's spyware but Brave forum says this about it;

"Widevine is tool for what is called Digital Rights Management (DRM). In a nutshell, some types of online content will be encrypted using this and you have to use Widevine in order to decrypt it and access it. Largest examples of websites that uses DRM are Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

It theoretically is supposed to help prevent piracy. Part of what also gets built in is like if I go to a website that requires Widevine and I attempt to record the video or take a screenshot, it will show as a black screen. It also will prevent you from being able to download the video on the web browser That’s because it does this extra layer of protection to protect content.

Widevine is owned by Google. That said, it’s self contained in the browser (supposedly) and nothing gets reported to them. It just is a key to access content."

Do I want it? No, not really unless I encounter data I cannot access without it but it's a perfect example of how developers sneak seemingly innocuous stuff onto our devices. I'm guessing many people would have said, Yes.

 

[25thirtysix]

@ 25thirtysix



One word... YES. Big understatement!!!
IMHO, it is much more thorough than any Finder Associated search and also much easier to use and it is fast and doesn't rely on anything to do with Finder or Spotlight. It also will search everywhere which the Finder based searches won't always do or allow.

Try it, I'm sure you'll like it.



- Patrick
=======

Patrick,

Thanks for the FAF tip, I've just purchased a copy.

I gave FAF full disk access. When I run FAF I get the list shown below. The three files marked are mine. When I try to delete the *.aot files I get the following message:

The operation failed for some items:
Some items are locked or require root permissions.
Some items were not deleted because of an error:
“Chromium Framework.aot” couldn’t be moved to the trash because you don’t have permission to access it.

Is it possible to delete these files I thought I had root access (I have Administrator access if that's the same thing.

Regards,
Peter

 

[MacBiter]

"Google wants to instal Widevine" and the option to Accept or Refuse. I had never seen this popup before thanks, no doubt, to Brave's ad and tracker blocking. According to Reddit it's spyware but Brave forum says this about it;

"Widevine is tool for what is called Digital Rights Management (DRM). In a nutshell, some types of online content will be encrypted using this and you have to use Widevine in order to decrypt it and access it. Largest examples of websites that uses DRM are Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

It theoretically is supposed to help prevent piracy. Part of what also gets built in is like if I go to a website that requires Widevine and I attempt to record the video or take a screenshot, it will show as a black screen. It also will prevent you from being able to download the video on the web browser That’s because it does this extra layer of protection to protect content.

Widevine is owned by Google. That said, it’s self contained in the browser (supposedly) and nothing gets reported to them. It just is a key to access content."

Do I want it? No, not really unless I encounter data I cannot access without it but it's a perfect example of how developers sneak seemingly innocuous stuff onto our devices. I'm guessing many people would have said, Yes.

A VERY sore point with me. As a disabled person I watch all my TV and video streaming services on my computer. In addition to your list above, ITVX and Channel 4 both use Widevine (though thankfully BBC iPlayer does not).

I'm an unreconstructed user of Mavericks, and the only browser that hasn't failed to stream DRM video is Chromium Legacy, where Widevine has always been upgraded. Unfortunately, the developer - who always adapted the latest version of Chrome to keep Legacy up to date - doesn't seem to be active any longer. There was an upgrade to Widevine a week ago, it isn't patched in, so Legacy won't stream DRM video anymore. I can still stream it using Firefox 115 ESR in my High Sierra VM, but Mozilla have said they're not supporting 115 after this month, so any future upgrade of Widevine will leave me well and truly stuffed.

 

[pm-r]

Is it possible to delete these files I thought I had root access (I have Administrator access if that's the same thing.

Try holding down the option key when doing a search and before you press the search button and it that should give you an option to enter your password that should give you full access permission to do virtually anything you want.

If that doesn't work drop a line to the developer and he is very quick to reply and very helpful.




- Patrick
=======

 

[25thirtysix]

Patrick, you're right. Thomas got back to me within two days and explained why the particular files cannot be deleted.

It seems that there are some folders and files that are "owned" by macOS and not even "root" can do any more than just read them.

Regards,
Peter

 

[pm-r]

@ 25thirtysix

It seems that there are some folders and files that are "owned" by macOS and not even "root" can do any more than just read them.

Thanks for your post back 25thirtysix [COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]and Thomas was able to explain things properly [/COLOR]and yes, Mac users haven't actually owned their their Mac computer or iDevices that they "own" but thankfully Apple allows us to use them under their conditions.

Thankfully applications such as FAF allow us to see nearly all of these Apple macOS "hidden files" even though we may not be able to do anything with them.



- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

Actually, Patrick, none of us fully "owns" any software. We have licenses to USE the software, but the ownership remains, for the most part, with the developer. I don't know of any exception to that, even for so-called freeware and open source software.

 

[MacBiter]

Actually, Patrick, none of us fully "owns" any software. We have licenses to USE the software, but the ownership remains, for the most part, with the developer. I don't know of any exception to that, even for so-called freeware and open source software.

And the same thing has always applied to music (records, tapes, CDs, digital - whatever) - we "own" the rights to stream the contents in our own home whenever we want, but we can't use it for public performances or incorporate any bits of the music into songs we create, or even publish the lyrics.

 

[pm-r]

Actually, Patrick, none of us fully "owns" any software.

Actually, I guess that is what I was trying to say, after all, no computer is of much value to anyone without running compatible software. So yes, it is the software we agree to use under the conditions of its use.



- Patrick
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