Haxie
Encyclopedia
In computing, a Haxie is a term which was coined by developer Unsanity
to describe their products. It is a blend of "hack" and "Mac OS X". Unsanity uses it to refer to "hacks" that are specifically designed for use with its Application Enhancer
(APE) software. These are typically small interface and functionality tweaks to the system or existing applications that work by injecting code into programs as they load.
Today, many people call such system enhancement products for Mac OS X "haxies", even though not all use APE. There are actually several techniques for injecting code into Mac OS X applications. Some methods use SIMBL
(the Smart InputManager Bundle Loader), are Input Manager plug-ins themselves, or use Jonathan Rentzsch's mach_inject and mach_override (now replaced by JRSwizzle) or similar code. It is also possible to do code injection as an AppleScript
scripting addition (osax).
According to a post by an Apple employee on an Apple mailing list, Apple ignores all crash reports submitted by users if they show that APE is installed.
format, either as a final release version or as a public beta, while the others remain under development. Third-party haxie developers who rely on APE can now release Intel-native versions of their haxies. An Intel-native version of SIMBL is also available.
Unsanity
Unsanity is a Mac OS X shareware software developer founded in May 2000, notable for coining the term "haxie".Their most popular software includes ShapeShifter and WindowShade, utilising their freeware Application Enhancer module...
to describe their products. It is a blend of "hack" and "Mac OS X". Unsanity uses it to refer to "hacks" that are specifically designed for use with its Application Enhancer
Application Enhancer
Application Enhancer is a software program released by Unsanity for Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Application Enhancer provides a framework that allows third-party developers to write "haxies" for OS X. It also provides a daemon to load haxies when certain applications are launched. These...
(APE) software. These are typically small interface and functionality tweaks to the system or existing applications that work by injecting code into programs as they load.
Today, many people call such system enhancement products for Mac OS X "haxies", even though not all use APE. There are actually several techniques for injecting code into Mac OS X applications. Some methods use SIMBL
SIMBL
SIMBL , is an application enhancement loader for Mac OS X developed by Mike Solomon. It helps third-party developers modify and add functionality to applications developed with the Cocoa environment without access to the source code...
(the Smart InputManager Bundle Loader), are Input Manager plug-ins themselves, or use Jonathan Rentzsch's mach_inject and mach_override (now replaced by JRSwizzle) or similar code. It is also possible to do code injection as an AppleScript
AppleScript
AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....
scripting addition (osax).
Controversy
Haxies are a source of controversy among Macintosh software developers. Because haxies make changes to Mac OS X that Apple did not intend, they complicate the operating environment for other developers' applications, and are frequently the cause of system instability and unexpected crashes. Applications by Bare Bones software display a dialog after crashing (or are force quit by the user) if haxies are detected on the system. The Omni Group routinely asks users to remove Application Enhancer modules before contacting customer support for help with their applications.According to a post by an Apple employee on an Apple mailing list, Apple ignores all crash reports submitted by users if they show that APE is installed.
Intel-based Macintoshes
In June, 2006, Unsanity released Application Enhancer 2.0 with support for Intel-based Macintoshes. Many of their haxies are now available in universal binaryUniversal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
format, either as a final release version or as a public beta, while the others remain under development. Third-party haxie developers who rely on APE can now release Intel-native versions of their haxies. An Intel-native version of SIMBL is also available.