Application stopped working — claims it requires new OS X version, but it worked before

Question

After restarting my computer, running OS X 10.8.5, the old GitHub client suddenly stopped working with the following error message:

You can’t use this version of the application “GitHub Desktop” with this version of OS X.

You have OS X 10.8.5. The application requires OS X 10.9 or later.

However, the very same application had been working previously with no issues. Is any way I can restore it?

I have downloaded the same application again from this direct download link, but now it is still blocked from starting with the same message, by what looks like only a system lock outside the application.

Is there any way to bypass that blocking setting and start the application?

Here is a screenshot of the message:

Answer 1

According to Updating GitHub Desktop the client updates itself automatically:

GitHub Desktop automatically downloads updates and installs them when you restart. You can also manually check for updates.

It appears that Github has updated their build toolchain server to a newer version of Xcode not supporting Lion.

You need to stay on the old version.

You may want to contact Github to get the newest build you can still use.