Ghidra server service does not start on MacOS 15.3.1

[SKGleba]

Describe the bug
Ghidra server service fails to start, no log file is created.
Seems to be the issue mentioned in the server readme -> "macOS - Service fails to start" making a comeback.
Workarounds (or):

• Run in console mode
• Allow full disk access for java

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. sudo bash server/ghidraSvr install
2. See error

Expected behavior
Should start

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: macOS 15.3.1
• Java Version: temurin-21.jdk
• Ghidra Version: 11.3.1
• Ghidra Origin: official GitHub distro

[ryanmkurtz]

Hmmm, I tested this somewhat recently and it worked. I'll try again tomorrow. You should have seen a background services notification pop up when installing the service.

[ryanmkurtz]

I was able to reproduce this error with Ghidra 11.3.1 on macOS 15.3.2. Enabling Full Disk Access also made it work for me. We have this documented, so I would argue everything is working as intended.

I will add though that when I do my own build of master, I don't have to enable Full Disk Access for some reason. I also haven't had to enable Full Disk Access for this to work for several years now, but I've really only been testing my own build on the Mac, so maybe users of the release have always needed to enable Full Disk Access? Not sure about that one yet.

When you say "making a comeback", are you confirming that you also haven't had to enable Full Disk Access for the last few releases of macOS? If so, in these working cases, were you running our official release, or a build of your own?

[SKGleba]

First time server user on macos, by 'comeback' i meant based on the readme entry about it being fixed.
After toying a bit i found that Its Just How It Works ™️ on macos - when you launch with 'console' it inherits perms from the terminal/caller, otherwise it uses the sandbox params for the jdk executable (as seen in sudo launchctl list org.rzo.yajsw.ghidraSvr).

Workarounds (or):

• make the service start a wrapper sh that has disk access perms
• make the service start a custom sandbox profile as a proxy
• just add a dedicated jdk installation for ghidra, that way you dont have to modify yajsw behavior

IMO #\3 makes the most sense, and thats what ill do - issue resolved on my side, feel free to close if its a wontfix.