What causes the error 'Your application bundle must install to "/Applications"' when validating archive for Mac app store

Question

I'm trying to get a new build of one of our applications ready for submission to the Mac App store.

When I try to validate the archive, I get a message 'Your application bundle must install to "/Applications"'.

I've tried all sorts of things to try to fix it, but no joy.

Answer 1

It turns out there is a setting in project>target>build settings, called "Installation directory." This app has been around since before the Mac App store, and was released to the app store when it first opened. The entry in that field was something like $HOME/Applications.

I never entered that - it seems to be a legacy setting. Anyway, that causes the validation step to fail.

You need to change that setting to just "/Applications". That appears to fix this problem, at least for our app.