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I would like to open a new MonoDevelop instance to work on a different project on the Mac, and the OS is currently preventing me from opening a new instance.

Mike Chamberlain
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miguel.de.icaza
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10 Answers10

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On Mac, if you have an app open and you try to launch it again, the Mac just switches to the open app. You can force it to open a new instance by passing the option "-n" to the launcher. In a terminal, run

open -n /Applications/MonoDevelop.app

Note also that MonoDevelop is capable of opening multiple solutions. To do this, simply uncheck the "close current solution" checkbox in the "Open" dialog, or hold down the control key when clicking on one of the recently opened projects in the Welcome Page.

EDIT: For Xamarin Studio, which has replaced MonoDevelop on Mac, the command is

open -n /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app

EDIT 2:

For Visual Studio for Mac, which has replaced Xamarin Studio, the command is

open -n /Applications/Visual\ Studio.app
Mikayla Hutchinson
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    Hi -- I'm running MonoDevelop 2.4 on Mac OS, and I'm not seeing that checkbox, or that control-key behavior. Has this changed recently? – David Moles Oct 05 '10 at 19:01
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    Still works for me. Note that the checkbox and the hint in the Welcome Page only appear if you have a solution already open, and the checkbox only appears when you actually select a solution or project in the dialog. – Mikayla Hutchinson Oct 14 '10 at 23:08
  • Update to the checkbox label in case someone find this, it now says "Close current workspace" – Tiago Feb 23 '12 at 14:20
  • FYI - if you use this method, the additional solutions are all opened in the same monodevelop window... this is not at all what I expected from using VS/MD on Windows. Apparently we have to resort to the methods below to get separate windows for separate solutions.. – David Jeske Sep 12 '12 at 17:57
  • ... also you can't run both subproject simultaneously using this method. Perhaps it would be better if monodevelop would implement opening a separate subproject by simply launching another copy of monodevelop. ? – David Jeske Sep 12 '12 at 18:05
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    Still works in Xamarin Studio, though I am still suspicious that Miguel pitched a softball: `open -n /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app/ ` ;^) – ruffin Jan 17 '15 at 01:36
  • This works for me. Is there a way to set it up so that if I click the application in the dock or in finder, it will open a new instance? – Chucky Jul 07 '16 at 14:32
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Using the shell to enter the command as others have described to launch an extra instance is fine, but I prefer having an icon on the dock that I can just click.

It's easy to do:

  1. Open AppleScript Editor and enter the following:

    do shell script "open -n /Applications/MonoDevelop.app/"

  2. Save with a name like "MonoDevelop Launcher" and make sure to specify Application for the file format.

  3. Drag the icon to your dock.

  4. Make sure to check out bright's comment below about replacing the generic icon with MonoDevelop's.

Click repeatedly to enjoy the grooviness of multiple MonoDevelop instances.

Subfuzion
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    The best of the two other answers combined – BlackTigerX Nov 14 '11 at 06:15
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    To replace the script launcher icon with the MonoDevelop icon, you can open the package contents, and replace the applet.icns file with the monodevelop icon (from the MonoDevelop package contents.) Just remember to rename the file to applet.icns after copying it. – bright Feb 20 '12 at 15:31
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    Perfect! Thanks Subfuzion, and thanks to bright for the icon replacement tip. – Leigh Bowers Mar 22 '12 at 10:38
  • Good tip from bright about changing the icon. Also, see the answer below by Glinkot and the comment by Luke regarding handling the space in Xamarin Studio, which replaces MonoDevelop. – Subfuzion Mar 20 '13 at 15:07
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For convenience, I just create three copies of MonoDevelop.

Highlight MonoDevelop in Finder, copy, paste, rename the new copy to "MonoDevelop-2", and repeat to your satisfaction.

It also helps me keep track of what's going on in different instances. I typically keep my most important project open in "MonoDevelop", use "MonoDevelop-2" for testing ideas related to my main project, and "MonoDevelop-3" for random scratch.

When you alt-tab (open-Apple-tab (command-tab (whvr))), the name of the executable shows up beneath its icon in the application list, so, as long as I stick to my convention, I always know(ish) the contents of the instance I'm alt-tabbing to regardless of how many other app windows I have open. I don't have to cycle through them to figure it out.

It's not perfect - when I have "MonoDevelop" running, if I try to fire up one of the others, the first attempt to start will fail. You just try to fire it up again - it works the second time. This has only been happening since the most recent build, though, and I think it might have something to do with automatic updates or add-in management. Haven't looked into it too much. Since there are no problems once up and running, I don't worry about it :)

The result is that, with the start-it-twice method, for any additional instance of MonoDevelop you'd like to start, you end up having to quadruple-click instead of double-click. Adds about fifteen seconds to the process, and since I have MonoDevelop (along with "MonoDevelop-1" and "MonoDevelop-2") running all the time, it adds up to, maybe, an extra thirty seconds of work each week. A fair trade for the convenience, methinks.

A bit hacky, but it's worked well for me.

And all the cool kids are doing it.

Rory Blyth
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    Great idea! Does it still work if you create a symlink instead of copying? – Mikayla Hutchinson Oct 15 '09 at 17:48
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    The startup failures are a known bug in the addin registry rescan. When MD detects that its dlls have changed or "moved", it rebuilds the addin registry, and sometimes it crashes when after this. There's an environment variable you can set to make it use a different registry location, which you could use to separate your three instances' registries, though I'm not sure how you'd set per-app env vars on mac. Might have to patch it into the MonoDevelop.app/Contents/macOS/MonoDevelop script. – Mikayla Hutchinson Oct 15 '09 at 17:52
  • I haven't tried anything other than just copying, though your idea makes way more sense - wouldn't have to duplicate effort when grabbing the latest MonoDevelop builds. When I do things like this (creating dirty solutions for myself), I tend to take the laziest route to satisfy my nerd-lusty ways. But now I want to know. Course, I could've done it in far less time than it took me to write this comment... This is defeating the purpose of my laziness. I must go. I must go and try... – Rory Blyth Oct 16 '09 at 21:49
  • Dunno why I waited so long to reply to this - I tried making a symlink as soon as I wrote the above comment - didn't work :| OS X wasn't fooled. So I'm still doing my copying thing. But, hey - it works. I've thought of a few ways of automating it and conveying more meaningful information than just -2, -3, etc. in the filename for command-tabbing through apps, but I haven't hit the Need > Laziness threshold yet that prompts me to build my tools :) – Rory Blyth Oct 31 '09 at 00:44
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--XAMARIN STUDIO--

As at February 2013 Monodevelop is called Xamarin Studio, and the fact it has a space in it means the above doesn't work. Some fiddling later, I've found you need to nest two types of quotes and the below will work in applescript:

do shell script "open -n '/Applications/Xamarin Studio.app/'"

Enjoy

Glinkot
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    It does work, you just need to escape the space e.g. `open -n /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app` – Luke Feb 21 '13 at 08:46
  • One more tip, you need to escape the backslash in the script as well, like `do shell script "open -n /Applications/Xamarin\\ Studio.app/"` – Mick Byrne Jul 18 '15 at 03:44
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Also you can use shorter version: 

Open -n -a "Xamarin Studio.app"

Edit: For Visual Studio for Mac and/or more shorter the command is 

Open -n -a "Visual Studio"
Denis Gordin
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If you're ok with opening two solutions in one instance of Xamarin Studio, you can do this by navigating to "File" -> "Recent Solutions" and then Ctrl+clicking on the other solution. This opens both solutions in the same instance of Xamarin studio.

willem
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You can check out this app by redth (now a Xamarin employee) who made a Xamarin Studio Launcher: http://redth.codes/Xamarin-Studio-Launcher-v3/. There is no code to post since it is an app. But the good thing is it is packaged up in a .dmg for you. It even works with .sln files. Hard link to the v4 (Jan 12, 2015) download: http://redth.codes/assets/Xamarin.Studio.Launcher.v4.zip.

valdetero
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Edit your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc and configure the following shortcut:

alias xam = 'open -n /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app'

Use as follows from the CLI:

xam ReactiveUI.sln
Geoffrey Huntley
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One more easiest way....

Just Open the Terminal Drag the Xamarin Studio app from application it will take the path like /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app and write the open -n before the /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app

Now complete command is like open -n /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app

Pritish
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Just Open the Terminal write or below command , you can change instance name number e.g(/Xamarin\ Studio1) it's open another one Xamarin Studio , e.g(/Xamarin\ Studio1) 

$ open -na /Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app --args -DataPath /Users/$(whoami)/Library/Application\ Support/Xamarin\ Studio1

Using above you can create any of .app multiple instance .

Patel Pankaj
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