Installation failed but your previous installation was resto

Error message

Installation failed but your previous installation was restored

What it means

Final macOS validation: after the swap, 'but --version' through the new symlink failed. The installer removed the new app, restored the backup, recreated the symlink, re-validated, and the restored version passes - so it bails with this message. Your previous installation is intact and working; the new artifact was rejected at run time.

Source

Thrown at crates/but-installer/src/install_macos.rs:271

        } else {
            bail!("Failed to create symlink: {e}. No backup available to restore.");
        }
    }

    if !validate_installed_binary(&but_symlink) {
        // Try to restore backup
        warn("Final installation verification failed - attempting to restore backup");
        if install_app_backup.exists() {
            fs::remove_dir_all(&install_app)?;
            fs::rename(&install_app_backup, &install_app)?;

            let restored_target = install_app.join("Contents/MacOS/gitbutler-tauri");
            let _ = fs::remove_file(&but_symlink);
            unix_fs::symlink(&restored_target, &but_symlink)?;

            if validate_installed_binary(&but_symlink) {
                success("Backup was restored successfully");
                bail!("Installation failed but your previous installation was restored");
            } else {
                bail!(
                    "Installation failed and backup restoration also failed - 'but' command may not work"
                );
            }
        } else {
            bail!("Installation failed and no backup available to restore");
        }
    }

    success(&format!(
        "{} installed successfully",
        app_basename.to_string_lossy()
    ));
    // Remove backup on success
    let _ = fs::remove_dir_all(&install_app_backup);

    success("GitButler CLI (but) installed successfully");

View on GitHub (pinned to caf1f223d3)

Solutions

Keep using the restored old version - no repair is strictly needed
Check System Settings > Privacy & Security for a blocked-binary notice for the new version; allow it or switch to the notarized release channel
Install Rosetta on Apple Silicon if the new artifact is x86_64: softwareupdate --install-rosetta
Retry later in case of transient corruption

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// Pre-flight the staged binary the way the installer will (but --version)
let status = std::process::Command::new(&staged_but)
    .arg("--version")
    .stdout(std::process::Stdio::null())
    .stderr(std::process::Stdio::null())
    .status();
anyhow::ensure!(status.is_ok_and(|s| s.success()),
    "new binary blocked (Gatekeeper/Rosetta); skipping update");

Try / catch

match but_installer::run_installation_with_version(request, false) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("previous installation was restored") => {
        // rollback already succeeded; old version is live. Keep it and report.
        log::warn!("update rejected at validation; staying on previous version");
    }
    result => result,
}

Prevention

Prefer the notarized release channel over nightly on managed Macs
Keep Rosetta installed on Apple Silicon
Treat single-shot validation failure as transient: retry before pinning blame

When it happens

Trigger: The new app's binary does not execute while the old one does: Gatekeeper quarantine blocking the freshly downloaded (e.g. unnotarized nightly) bundle, a corrupted download, or an x86_64 build on arm64 without Rosetta.

Common situations: Nightly channel on Gatekeeper-strict macOS; missing Rosetta; transient CDN corruption; MDM policy changes applied between versions.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gitbutlerapp/gitbutler@caf1f223d3 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/314308e432bae77b. Report an issue: GitHub.