MacOSLib and 64bit debugger

Now that we have 64bit debugging - which is great news - it increases pressure to get MacOSLib 64bit ready.

My question is, is this likely to happen or should we spend time seeking alternatives to this excellent set of declares?

MacOSLib is a community driving, written and supported code base. So if the community doesnt want to upgrade it then no.

Well, it’s a matter of necessity. 32-bit macOS apps are still perfectly fine for now so there’s no rush.

If, however, Apple says that the next iteration of macOS will be 64-bit only I’m sure there would be some considerable scrambling to get it updated.

My interest in 64bit is that there are some items, like MBS’s event kit that I’d like to use, that are 64bit only. But to get that, I have to get out of MacOSLib for the time being. Swings and Roundabouts.

You can see what you use from MacOSLIb and maybe it’s also in my plugins…

The plugins have the advantage of a full time employee working all day on keeping the plugins running.

You are winning the argument at the moment Christian! :slight_smile:

Just stay healthy.

I’m not pushing everyone buying a MBS license but you have to admit Christian always tries to keep up so your projects keep working.
Everything MacOSLib can do, can be done with MBS (and more).

Plugins are like instant coffee : drop in the project, and it works. A (moderate) cost is attached, but it is the price of peace of mind and security.

MacOSLib and more generally declares, should be the occasion to learn, and understand how things work. They cannot be considered as a simple drop in.

Actually, going for 64 bit is a tremendous occasion to understand the declares, in order to adapt them.

For every declare you have: For going 64-bit you need to review it.

And for every 32-bit number decide if it should be always 32-bit, always 64-bit or bit depth depending on target.
I just run in this where socklen_t is 32-bit always, although I thought it would go 64-bit on 64-bit.

Indeed and I wrote an article for XDev mag last year on upgrading your declares for 64-Bit, as Christian says it does require you to double check all your declares with the Apple documentation to make sure that you’re using the correct data type. Some values will be changed to 64-Bit, while others may stay at 32-Bit. I even included a handy table for choosing the right Xojo number type to match the declares.

You have to review more than just declares though.
If you interface with the outside world in almost any way you have to review the use of data types that might vary in size from 32 bit to 64 bit. Integer for instance.
If you read & write files/sockets/serial - review them and look over what assumptions you make about data type sizes as this WILL cause you headaches