Hacker News Reader

Comment by TheCoreh | Hacker News Reader

macOS doesn't really have multiple instances of running applications. Apps have a single instance with multiple windows, and the mechanism for managing windows and open apps is separate.

A lot of Windows applications now also behave like that behind-the-scenes, though that isn't the default behavior and requires some cross-process signaling.

View on HN

> macOS doesn't really have multiple instances of running applications.

So if I wanted to start multiple instances of TeXStudio, I'm unable to do so?

I don't use a mac often, but when I have and I've put on less common programs that do have multiple instances, they have worked fine.

You can launch new instances from the terminal with

  open -n -a <Application>

If you want you can also launch a new instance using sudo to get root privileges in them as well.

So then it is possible, which again means I need text to tell them apart instead of just an icon.

Yeah as far as I know to change the name of the launching app you would have to duplicate the app bundle and rename it. But if you go that far you could also change the icon as well.

It's _technically possible_ but nobody does it, it's mostly available as an escape hatch to debug applications and run things as other users.

You'd open a new window within the currently running TeXStudio process with File > New (Window|Document). Some apps also let you open new windows through the context menu of their Dock icons.

You can force a new process by launching through the Terminal but this is not frequently done.

The program takes a parameter to open a new instance "--start-always', this is needed to load a different session. No idea if that is needed on mac or if a new 'window' would suffice.

Either way I need text to tell my instances, or windows apart.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com