Re: [Bug-gnubg] GNU Backgammon Crashes on Mac OSX

[Philippe Michel]

On Sat, 28 Jan 2017, Ken Kline wrote:

> I got, what I thought, was the correct version of GNU Backgammon for Mac 
> OSX Mountain Lion from your website. I have the newest version of 
> XQuartz. GNU Backgammon installs perfectly to my Applications Folder, 
> but when I try to launch GNUBG, XQuartz comes up but GNUBG crashes. How 
> can I fix this?

There have been multiple similar reports, either in this list or at the 
GNU project bug reports site, for various versions on OSX. It seems the 
binary packages available at www.gnubg.org, built 2-3 years ago for the OS 
versions available at the time, may not work any longer after some 
upgrades of the OS.

There were a few similar issues on Linux, but here there are relatively 
many people who build up to date packages for the distribution they 
contrbute to maintain. The problems then tend to be fixed quickly. We have 
no such luxury for OSX.

The safer solution might be for you to do just that, building your own 
gnubg for your OS version by using the nifty MacPorts system.

> I am not much of a computer techie so please make your reply easy to 
> follow.

I don't know if it will qualify as easy to follow, but you may want to 
read the beginning of this document :
https://guide.macports.org/
and after section 2.2.1 switch to :
https://trac.macports.org/wiki/UsingMacPortsQuickStart

I don't use a Mac, so I cannot go much further. Maybe Mac (and macports) 
users can offer more information. for instance a simpler tutorial or the 
specific steps to install gnubg.