I’m pretty sure at least one dev doesn’t use anything but OSX.
Sorry to hear of it. I have non such issues. Running on a fresh big sur install (on a VM) especially for test purposes such as these. Perhaps when upgrading something is left behind that causes these grey screens?
Is that the bottom icon?
Will mac OS paste them to the correct location in the application folder when doing this blanket paste?
I have manually copy and pasted the library which appeared to work,( I hope). I now see a library when I am in Kicad. But, what concerns me is that if I try and add additional libraries in the future Kicad won’t know where to put them. Even though I already did the copy and paste, do you thing I should now use your method as described and it won’t mess anything up?
At least four of the KiCad devs use MacOS at least part of the time, but I think all of us who do tend to not jump to upgrading MacOS versions right when they come out. It seems like each new version causes new headaches for KiCad distribution that take time away from fixing bugs that apply to all platforms.
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I learned the lesson the hard way - the good news is it forced me to learn how to Downgrade OSX. I have three Macs and will NEVER upgrade again! And, why upgrade? To ‘Bloat’ the system with Social Media crap…
But, don’t take my opinion on it’s own merits…
The problem is that the version of the current Kicad won’t run on the old versions of Mac os.
This sounds like a known issue with the fallback graphics mode on macos. I noticed a while ago that it didn’t work, and we have now even removed that option from v6 (so macos only has the OpenGL accelerated graphics - which is needed for the Retina displays). You should be able to see the canvas if you switch to accelerated graphics mode.
BEAUTIFUL! Now I don’t have to sneak in time on my project at work. 
Thank you!
Yes, I have KiCad 5.1.8 running on macOS Big Sur.
Did it load the libraries automatically when you dragged the bottom Kicad icon to the Application support icon or did you have to do sometime else?
I believe I installed this version of KiCad before I upgraded to Big Sur. I get the same behavior as you if I try to copy the kicad folder from the dmg to the Application Support folder (i.e. does nothing).
I checked the permissions for the Application Support folder (select the folder alias on the dmg and right click, then select “Show Original”. This will open Library with Application Support selected. Now right click Application Support and select Get Info). I see I have read permission only. Only the system can write to that folder. I think this is part of the increased security in macOS Big Sur.
You should be able to move the kicad folder into your private Application Support folder in your user directory ~/Library/Application\ Support. You have write permission there. Then edit the paths in the KiCad configure paths dialog (KiCad menu bar->Preferences->Configure Paths) to add the “~” in front of each of the /Library/Application\ Support/… paths.
HTH
I should have mentioned you can open your user Application Support directory using the Finder menu bar->Go->Go to Folder and entering the path name. Then you can drag the kicad folder from the dmg to this directory.
I think I followed your directions right, here’s what I did, Finder menu bar->Go->Go to Folder and entering the path name, for some reason the /Library/Application Support was already filled out, I then dragged the dmg folder to the folder displayed, It asked if I want to replace the existing folder, I said yes, then wanted me ok the move using my password. Here is what I have now in the Kicad folder. Does this look right?
It could be but I’m not sure because your screenshot doesn’t show the path to the kicad folder. The contents look correct though.
Below are two screenshots, the first shows the kicad folder in /Library/Application\ Support, the second shows the same files in my home directory ~/Library/Application\ Support. The “~” at the beginning of the path is a Unix (and macOS) shortcut for the current user’s home directory. The full path is displayed at the bottom of each window. If the path is not displayed it can be turned on from the Finder menubar->View->Show Path Bar. Whichever path is displayed must be entered into the KiCad configure paths dialog so that KiCad knows where to look for those files.
Edit: due to a new account I can only post 1 image per post. The second image will follow in a second post.
Looks just like your second image.
OK then you should be able to go to KiCad menubar->Preferences->Configure Paths and then change the paths that begin with “/Library/…” to “~/Library/…”. If that doesn’t work (I expect it will but I haven’t tried it), you could instead change “/Library/…” to “/Users/<your user name>/Library/…” to use an explicit full path instead of the “~” home directory shortcut. Of course, replace <your user name> with the actual user name of the macOS User account you are using.
Leave the paths that don’t begin with “/Library/…” untouched.
I have made a short tutorial on installing to Big Sur. Search on Big Sur install - How To.
This November, both everyday users and privacy advocates found new reasons to be concerned about Apple. After an update to the latest version of their operating system, users found that they were unable to launch applications that were not written by Apple itself. This problem was caused by an Apple server outage. But why did the unavailabilty of a remote server prevent a user from launching a program on their own computer?
The rest of the story is on:
https://www.fsf.org/news/the-problems-with-apple-arent-just-outages-they-are-injustices