iOS Build Environment Help Center
Hi there! Happy user of the iOS toolchain here :)
Out of curiosity, have you considered adding support for compiling/linking Mac apps with the toolchain?
Since it seems like the iOS toolchain linker already has support for .tbd files and other interesting Apple "stuff", maybe this wouldn't be too difficult?
Currently, I'm using osxcross through Docker for this purpose, but would be really happy if I could get rid of the VM.
Hello,
It's already possible, provided you have the right SDK and call the compiler and linker "by hand" using the right flags. Not very user-friendly I admit.
The build script at the moment is too focused on iOS apps, even if I'm trying to change that there's still some way to go.
There's one thing the builder won't do at the moment: it's the compilation of .xib/.storyboard (Interface Builder) files. If your app uses none, it certainly can be built.
Do you have a templated example of such an app to share with me, so I can see what's needed to improve macOS support ?
I think I tried this about a year ago (i.e. calling `clang` manually to compile and link), but I remember having some issues back then.
I don't remember 100% what those were unfortunately :(
If this is already a supported usecase, I will definitely try again and report back very soon!
All I can say is that a game company - a big one - already uses it internally to produce their macOS builds on Windows (it reminds me that they talked to me about something some time ago regarding all this, I should contact them to know what the idea became...)
FYI this year the toolchain's code signer gained the ability to code sign *and* timestamp macOS apps. Because of that new feature, notarization is also doable from Windows now.
Looks like things are indeed working as intended, managed to compile our game on Windows and run it on Mac. Excellent!
Now to figure out how to get DMG packaging working on Windows, but that's an entirely separate issue of course :)
I sorta know how to do that, but it requires a tool that I haven’t written yet (userland HFS driver…) There might be some implementations in the open source world.
Looks like this can be done with `genisoimage` which has a Cygwin version:
http://cygwin.osuosl.org/x86/release/cdrkit/genisoimage
Doing a "nice" DMG with background images and so on will probably be a bit more extra effort since you will need to find a way to create the .DS_Store file and /Applications symlink.
Good find, and it does already support HFS resource forks and symlinks. See the man page of the tool, section "HFS options".
For those interested, I took up the challenge and here is what I could come up with:
% makedmg.exe command-line help makedmg - iOS Build Environment's .dmg file creator by Pierre-Marie Baty Usage: makedmg <outfile.dmg> <pathname to app dir> [-v] Example: makedmg myMacApp.dmg C:\Path\To\MyMacApp\BuildOutput To create symlinks, put one-liner files containing just the symlink target. To set a custom DMG icon, put a .VolumeIcon.icns file in the root directory. To set a custom background, icons placement and sizes, place a .DS_Store file in the root directory (you can generate one with macOS and reuse it). Binary Mach-O files and files with a shebang (#!) get execution flags (0755). %
Get it here: https://www.pmbaty.com/iosbuildenv/makedmg.zip
And let me know if you find any issues. Merry Christmas :)
Oh wow, thanks for this! Will try to use it and report back :)
So, did you have a chance to test it ? Does it suit your needs ?
Moderators: Pierre-Marie Baty