AppleScript: Script Debugger is discontinued after 30 years

Contents

The Script Debugger software for the Mac served a niche – but apparently did so very successfully for decades. The tool for development with AppleScript will be discontinued in mid-2025, as the developers have now announced. According to their own statement, they want to retire. Script Debugger will be available to all interested parties free of charge from the middle of the year, but will no longer be developed further.

The two-person software project began in 1995, when Mark Aldritt and his wife Gerry Tubin founded the company Late Night Software. Script Debugger is currently available in version 8. Alongside Aldritt, Shane Stanley is responsible for development.

What the software could do better

Script Debugger is a professional development environment for Apple's scripting language, which was introduced in 1992. Compared to the editor that Apple itself supplies, the 99 US dollar tool is characterized by far more extensive functions. These include a powerful debugger, an object browser, code completion and extended error diagnosis options.

According to Aldritt, Script Debugger has survived four processor architectures and the near demise of Apple. The software started out in the days of Classic MacOS and today its current version natively supports the Apple Silicon architecture introduced in 2020.

Developers make software freely available

AppleScript continues to enjoy popularity among professional Mac administrators and power users who use it to automate processes on Apple devices. However, the Shortcuts app, also offered by Apple, provides users with an alternative that is more suitable than the scripting language, especially for simpler projects.

According to Mark Aldritt, development of the software will end this month. Sales and support will continue until June. After that, the plan is to offer all versions from 5.0 onwards for free download. Interested parties will receive registration codes to unlock the software. The developers want to continue to participate in the forum, but will no longer offer official support.

Open source continuation not possible

For legal reasons, Script Debugger cannot be published as open source software, Aldritt announced. The reason for this is that parts of the software cannot be made freely available as the two developers do not have the corresponding rights. Further development of the IDE in this way is therefore out of the question.

(mki)