I was messing around with some external libraries, and for some reason when I enter any Osascript command, I now get this error (before it did work):

2011-09-07 19:13:43.306 osascript[1083:707] Error loading /Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Unit Types:  dlopen(/Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Unit Types, 262): no suitable image found.  Did find:
    /Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Unit Types: no matching architecture in universal wrapper
osascript: OpenScripting.framework - scripting addition "/Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax" declares no loadable handlers.
4:5: syntax error: Expected “given”, “in”, “of”, expression, “with”, “without”, other parameter name, etc. but found unknown token. (-2741)

Help please?


The dlopen error means it can't load the Adobe Unit Types scripting addition, because it only has a 32-bit binary, but the process loading it is 64-bit. This may or may not be a problem for your script, depending on whether your script uses the handlers provided by the addition.

Normally, all available additions are loaded at once, whether you're using them or not, so we can't tell whether this is an issue without seeing your script.

The syntax error may or may not be related to the inability to load the addition. Even if you resolve the addition-loading issue, the syntax error may remain. Have you tried compiling the script in AppleScript Editor to see where the syntax error occurs and to verify whether it's a valid script?

To isolate the problem you can try any of the following:

  • Uninstall the scripting addition. The path to its location is in the error message. Just move it to another location, like the Desktop.
  • Run osascript in 32-bit mode. To do so, invoke it via the arch command, which lets you select which architecture a program uses: arch -i386 osascript …. Similarly, you can run AppleScript Editor in 32-bit mode using Finder's Info window—select the application in Finder, open an Info window and select "Open in 32-bit mode".

UPDATE: If running in 32-bit mode fixes the problem, then as joelsef suggested the solution is to upgrade the Adobe Unit Types scripting addition. The latest version has a 64-bit executable.


You could try updating Adobe Unit Types.osax file to the 64-bit version, if it's not already updated to version 2.1.0. You can find the download link at this Adobe KB article.

The KB article talks about Photoshop specifically, but using the updated Adobe Unit Types resolved some obscure error I was getting that had nothing to do with scripting Photoshop.