What does the console error 'Unable to clear quarantine' mean?

Question

I'm making an OS X Installer package. I download it from a build machine onto a test machine (10.5.8) and then run it. In the console, the following message is immediately logged:

kernel[0]: Finder[52646] Unable to clear quarantine '<package name>': 30

From what I've read, Leopard sets a quarantine extended attribute on all downloaded files. It's possible to use xattr to remove that flag, although that obviously doesn't apply to this situation, since a program can't un-quarantine itself.

I don't have a problem with the quarantine itself, or with Leopard popping up some dialog asking whether the user trusts the program. But I would like to know why the quarantine could not be cleared, and whether there is a way to modify my installer or the scripts it runs to prevent that error from being logged.

Answer 1

Does the user on the test machine have administrative privileges? If the app is in a folder such as /Applications, you'll need them. If you can not change the user, try to download the app in his home folder.