Full-path App.open failed, even though it works, Mac 10.10

[chriscorbell]

1.1.0(2015-10-05_17:07)/Mac10.10.5/Java8(64)1.8.0_60-b27

My sikuli testing code needs to launch apps by specifying their full path - these are installers (not apps in the Applications directory).

Under Mac OS 10.10, App.open() errors out. I saw the same problem under Mac OS 10.9 and hoped that updating would fix it, but it does not.

Here's a sample script:
-------
import time

app = App("/Users/Shared/Testing/TrapcodeSuiteInstaller.app")
print "opening app..."
app.open()
print "focusing..."
app.focus()
time.sleep(5)
print "done"
-------

This script actually works (the app launches), except that App.open() reports an error and the script exits non-zero. Here's the output:
-------
opening app...

[error] App.open failed: /Users/Shared/Testing/TrapcodeSuiteInstaller.app not found
focusing...

done
------

In more involved scripts with code that then interacts with the app, this error prevents the downstream code from ever getting run.