Executable file flag


Executables on macOS require a special "Executable flag".

If you have installed RR via Windows, it might be that this flag was not set on your fileserver.

In this case use the Royal Render Installer and start it on any macOS machine. 
Do not use it for re-installing Royal Render, just browse to the RR folder and use the button "Apply executable right only".



MacOS 10.15+  Security Restrictions

There is a new security feature to prevent applications from accessing files, network shares or control other applications.

You might not even be able to start any Royal Render application at all. (Error message like "Unable to access globalconfig.ini").


Most of the time macOS asks you if you want to add the application the first time you try to start it/try to render.

But this does not happen for all applications.




Manual


Please open your macOS preferences "Security & Pricacy", tab "Privacy".


Then you have to select a section of Privacy in your macOS preference window.

And then DragNDrop a application from a Finder window into the prefs window.
You can use the Finder menu "Go/Go to Folder" to open the application folder (e.g. "/bin").

Some settings cannot be added manually, you have to start a render and wait for the macOS question dialog or use MDM


Application

Application to add

Privacy Section 

Royal Render - start app

/bin/bash

Full Disk Access

After Effects - Rendering

/Applications/Adobe After Effects

Full Disk Access

Files and Folders - Network Volumes (only possible with MDM or macOS dialog)
Automation - Finder (only possible with MDM or macOS dialog)

Cinema4D - Job Submission

/bin/bash

Full Disk Access



MDM Managed Macs


You can set these kind of preferences on MDM managed Macs by pushing signed profiles to preemptively white-list signed applications.
This isn’t feasible for a few machines if you’re not running a MDM.

The process is quite detailed, but it uses a well documented profile setup (175 pages to cover the basics)
Look at the section on page 64:   https://developer.apple.com/business/documentation/Configuration-Profile-Reference.pdf#page64

Here is a very not short (but as short as can be reasonably made) guide for an engineer or team thinking about adding this to your MDM.

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/creating-privacy-preferences-policy-control-profiles-for-macos/


There are some tools to create TCC profiles like this one:

https://github.com/jamf/PPPC-Utility


csh


Your mac requires to have the csh shell installed.

It should be installed by default.


If you do not have it installed, then you see in your render log following messages:


setenv: command not found

...

setenv: command not found

...

setenv: command not found

...

setenv: command not found

...





 Mount Fileserver shares


You have 3 options to mount your file shares.

1) You tell the rrClient to mount shares.

Please open rrConfig, tab "paths and drives" and add your fileserver share.

This does not work for the Royal Render share if you have installed the RR daemon. As the daemon starts the rrClient and the rrClient can then mount shares.


2) You login at the workstation and mount the drives via the users startup.

Then you start the rrClient in application mode (no background service).


3) You let the system mount all shares automatically

Please see next section.




Auto-Mount


If you want to use RR as background deamon, then you need to auto-mount the RR share at startup. (+the shares for your project data)


Before you auto-mount a share, you should always test if you can connect to the share with Finders menu item "Connect to Server" first.


There are a lot of forum post and tutorials  about how to mount a share automatically out there.

Please search for "auto_master".

There are even tutorials how to use a auto_smb script file to mount SMB/Samba shares.

But we have not found a way to mount a share that is usable by multiple users on the same system.

Therefore we recommend that you enable NFS shares on your fileserver.