Mac builds on PC

So I’ve got 2018R4 here (2019R1 doesn’t actually work for us). I had these split as PC and MAC version but, due to undocumented restrictions, ended up getting a desktop license. I mainly us a PC for doing dev work but use the MAC for fixing MAC specific problems.

So I go to build both platforms on my PC. Checked both on the build window and pressed “build”. Only got the PC version. I unchecked the Windows and left the MAC selection checked and pressed build. Got nothing at all.

So… I’m supposed to be able to do cross platform builds on Xojo, right? (RB I always did this on). Is this is an installation problem of some sort? A license bug?

You can’t build 64bit mac apps from windows/linux yet.
I hope in the future that option will be available.

What is the underlying issue with building 64 bit mac apps? Is it something that is being developed, or is it a limitation imposed by Apple?

Don’t jump to blame Apple. It’s a bad habit many have gotten into.
The compiler doesn’t build for 64 bit Mac on Windows. This is a Xojo problem, not Apple’s.

Dont recall if it didnt come down to the linker on Windows cant handle it
I believe those come from the LLVM project

@Travis Hill could say more accurately

[quote=439797:@Tim Parnell]Don’t jump to blame Apple. It’s a bad habit many have gotten into.
The compiler doesn’t build for 64 bit Mac on Windows. This is a Xojo problem, not Apple’s.[/quote]
Actually it’s an LLVM problem. There is no finished 64-bit Mac linker on Windows/Linux yet. There’s one under development, but it’s not ready for prime time yet.

So as a Developer on the Windows platform with a Pro license I’m paying for something I’m not able to access?

Thanks Greg.

You certainly can access it. Your Pro license allows you to run the IDE build on macOS and this particular feature is currently requires that.

Not to beat up on Xojo, but 32 bit Mac apps are already deprecated by Apple and will not be abe to run on a current MacOS much longer… So fairly soon one will not even be able to remote debug a Mac app from a Windows machine (now it still can be done with a 32 bit debug app I guess).

While of course it is best for one to have both a Mac and Windows box (or at least a Mac with a virtual Windows machine) , it seems to me it is not a reasonable expectation for someone who primarily writes Windows apps but went with Xojo because they would occasionally want to do a Mac version, to always have a Mac handy.

This does not affect me personally as since started to use RB, I have have always been primarily a Mac user, but have had Macs and PCs (or VPCs) both at home and at work. Because of that I have never actually needed or tried to compile a Mac app on a Windows machine … But i do compile Windows apps on a Mac all the time. I am much more comfortable working on a Mac

If I was primarily a Windows user, the current situation would leave a bad taste in my mouth. For a long time some Windows users felt like second class citizens from what I’ve seen over the years… this does not help with that perception! Xojo needs more Windows customers (there are potentially a lot more of them!) to help bring in more revenue to be able to better support product development.

Hopefully the linker issue can get solved soon, but I would imagine timetables for open source projects are even less reliable than those from companies! I hope Xojo has a plan to deal with this if the LLVM team takes much longer!

(BTW obviously this issue applies equally Windows customers for Desktop and Pro)

I’ve seen too much software released for mac and windows, build on a mac and not even tested well on Windows. I expect the same the other way around. I am of the opinion that a developer must own the native platforms and OS versions he is delivering for. Even a VM can not always be guaranteed representing a native OS for the full 100%…

As a developer for mostly Windows I tend to agree with you, but keep in mind that Xojo was originally focused on Mac. I believe that if a developer targets Windows, Windows and Windows only, he’d better off choosing the development platform having it’s roots there, like the .NET framework.

Oh no… no… RB was a very nice platform because it was basically VB4 (well, starting more like VB3). .NET is an abomination as usual for MS. Xojo, for all it’s squirrels, is still way easier to develop with than .NET platforms for the most part. Way easier. MS dumping VB for VB.NET was a travesty at best.

Dislcaimer: VB (and particularly .NET) will rot your brains but it’s very, very fast to create applications with and that’s very important so I DO use it extensively, generally much to my chagrin.