macOS on ARM CPU

[rocrail]

Hi,

it seems Apple want to schwitch from Intel to its own ARM processors for macOS based hardware.

How to compile wxWidgets under macOS ARM?

The Raspbian, PiOS, is also based on an ARM CPU, and its no problem to compile/build wxWidgets.

[doublemax]

It's probably not possible yet. But when the time comes, i guess there will just be additional parameters to the configure/make command to set the processor architecture.

E.g. here's how to make fat binaries with PowerPC support:
https://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Development: ... sal_Binary

It will be similar when ARM comes.

[BenKissBox]

Things may not be so easy, from what I can see for now.

First thing : for now, Apple is only giving very limited access to the ARM platform they intend to use for their new computer. You have to buy a specific platform (looking like a Mac Mini), pay it $500 and return it to Apple in a few months... (yes, you don't buy it, you rent it !!!)

Second thing : the contract for this new platform forbids any disassembling, publishing anything related to it, etc... Extremely easy to work and debug under such conditions...

So porting the wxWidgets on the new platform may not be so easy as just "compiling it on ARM". Little by little, Apple is pushing programmers to use exotic languages (like Swift, which replaced ObjC...) with less and less interface with C++. I see a real risk that Mac OS GUI will become finally something without any C++ interface, making it extremely hard to use under wxWidgets

[New Pagodi]

Here's a discussion of ARM support for macOS from the wxDev group.

Basically the plan is to build universal binaries containing both ARM and x86-64 code similar to how the situation was handled during the transition from powerpc to x86.

[rocrail]

Many thanks to you all! "The great wxWidgets Team".
A Mac Mini "Big Sur" with M1 CPU just arrived today, and Rocrail runs now native on the M1 CPU with wxWidgets!