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I have an slightly-off-topic question: If I want to test that my opensource project builds and runs on MacOS, what's the cheapest way for me to do this? AWS s

I have an slightly-off-topic question: If I want to test that my opensource project builds and runs on MacOS, what's the cheapest way for me to do this? AWS seems like a fairly expensive way do this at $15 USD per day

mcphage 5y ago
You don't need to leave the machine running (and billing) 24/7/365—turning it on for a few hours a day when you're building for it, or testing builds, should be enough.
- plorkyeran 5y ago
  There's a minimum charge of 24 hours. macOS's license only permits renting the machine to a single buyer per day, so if you use it for five minutes then turn it off that machine is idle for the rest of the day.
- banana_giraffe 5y ago
  Unlike other EC2 instances, you have to "reserve" a host, and the MAC instances require a minimum of a 24 hour reservation, that you pay for regardless of the instance state. It can be hard to justify $15.60 every time I want to test some random thing. Not to mention I seem to recall you can't actually cancel a reservation till the 24 hour window is up, so you need to remember to stop it the next day, or automate that action somehow.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jffry 5y ago
  From https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/#Pricing https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/#Pricing: "Amazon EC2 Mac instances are available for purchase as Dedicated Hosts through On Demand and Savings Plans pricing models. Billing for EC2 Mac instances is per second with a 24-hour minimum allocation period to comply with the Apple macOS Software License Agreement"
  - mcphage 5y ago
    ...well, poop. That sucks.
aaronbrethorst 5y ago
GitHub Actions
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
X-Istence 5y ago
Github Actions has macOS available as a builder.
- eminence32 5y ago
  If you need to interactively test something, can you do that with Github Actions?
  - JacobCarlborg 5y ago
    You can use this GitHub action [1] to get SSH access to a GitHub runner. If you need access to the GUI you should be able to use ngrok, perhaps with this GitHub action [2]. I've tried tmate both with Linux and macOS runners. I've only tried ngrok with Linux runners. CircleCI supports macOS runners and has native support for rerunning failed builds with SSH access. So just setup a job that always fails. [1] https://github.com/marketplace/actions/debugging-with-tmate https://github.com/marketplace/actions/debugging-with-tmate [2] https://github.com/marketplace/actions/ngrok-tunnel https://github.com/marketplace/actions/ngrok-tunnel
    - eminence32 5y ago
      Ahh, using tmate for this is very clever!
zamadatix 5y ago
Scaleway has them for €2.4/day.
- icelusxl 5y ago
  €49/month at Hetzner. https://www.hetzner.com/dedicated-rootserver/matrix-apple https://www.hetzner.com/dedicated-rootserver/matrix-apple
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    + a €49 setup fee. I've never really understood Hetzner's offering, I can get paying €2.4 for a quick one off or a once a month build but I don't get how €98 + €49 per additional month is better than buying a Mac Mini on a payment plan.
    - detaro 5y ago
      If in a business context the alternative is "the CI macs, that sit in some corner of some office under a desk and hopefully don't get unplugged", maybe with a side of "and IT hates unapproved servers and also won't put our macs in their DC", I can see it making some sense.
      - mhitza 5y ago
        IMHO unplugged once or twice a month, or GitHub Actions being unavailable it's pretty much the same thing.
mherdeg 5y ago
I guess you could buy a refurbished Mac Mini on apple.com for $589?
- EricE 5y ago
  Or better still just use macminicolo.net
asadlionpk 5y ago
probably just github actions: free!
Nextgrid 5y ago
It is straightforward to run an x86 macOS VM on Linux with QEMU & KVM. It's against the EULA to do so on non-Mac hardware, but technically it is possible.
- userbinator 5y ago
  "Virtual Hackintosh" is definitely quite popular, especially in regions where EULAs are not enforceable. But no one has managed to emulate the M1 enough to run the full OS yet[1], so that's a strictly x86-only option. [1] I believe this is the closest publicly documented effort, and it's a year old: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25064593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25064593

mcphage 5y ago

You don't need to leave the machine running (and billing) 24/7/365—turning it on for a few hours a day when you're building for it, or testing builds, should be enough.

plorkyeran 5y ago
There's a minimum charge of 24 hours. macOS's license only permits renting the machine to a single buyer per day, so if you use it for five minutes then turn it off that machine is idle for the rest of the day.
banana_giraffe 5y ago
Unlike other EC2 instances, you have to "reserve" a host, and the MAC instances require a minimum of a 24 hour reservation, that you pay for regardless of the instance state. It can be hard to justify $15.60 every time I want to test some random thing. Not to mention I seem to recall you can't actually cancel a reservation till the 24 hour window is up, so you need to remember to stop it the next day, or automate that action somehow.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jffry 5y ago
From https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/#Pricing https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/#Pricing: "Amazon EC2 Mac instances are available for purchase as Dedicated Hosts through On Demand and Savings Plans pricing models. Billing for EC2 Mac instances is per second with a 24-hour minimum allocation period to comply with the Apple macOS Software License Agreement"
- mcphage 5y ago
  ...well, poop. That sucks.

aaronbrethorst 5y ago

GitHub Actions

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

X-Istence 5y ago

Github Actions has macOS available as a builder.

eminence32 5y ago
If you need to interactively test something, can you do that with Github Actions?
- JacobCarlborg 5y ago
  You can use this GitHub action [1] to get SSH access to a GitHub runner. If you need access to the GUI you should be able to use ngrok, perhaps with this GitHub action [2]. I've tried tmate both with Linux and macOS runners. I've only tried ngrok with Linux runners. CircleCI supports macOS runners and has native support for rerunning failed builds with SSH access. So just setup a job that always fails. [1] https://github.com/marketplace/actions/debugging-with-tmate https://github.com/marketplace/actions/debugging-with-tmate [2] https://github.com/marketplace/actions/ngrok-tunnel https://github.com/marketplace/actions/ngrok-tunnel
  - eminence32 5y ago
    Ahh, using tmate for this is very clever!

zamadatix 5y ago

Scaleway has them for €2.4/day.

icelusxl 5y ago
€49/month at Hetzner. https://www.hetzner.com/dedicated-rootserver/matrix-apple https://www.hetzner.com/dedicated-rootserver/matrix-apple
- zamadatix 5y ago
  + a €49 setup fee. I've never really understood Hetzner's offering, I can get paying €2.4 for a quick one off or a once a month build but I don't get how €98 + €49 per additional month is better than buying a Mac Mini on a payment plan.
  - detaro 5y ago
    If in a business context the alternative is "the CI macs, that sit in some corner of some office under a desk and hopefully don't get unplugged", maybe with a side of "and IT hates unapproved servers and also won't put our macs in their DC", I can see it making some sense.
    - mhitza 5y ago
      IMHO unplugged once or twice a month, or GitHub Actions being unavailable it's pretty much the same thing.

mherdeg 5y ago

I guess you could buy a refurbished Mac Mini on apple.com for $589?

EricE 5y ago
Or better still just use macminicolo.net

asadlionpk 5y ago

probably just github actions: free!

Nextgrid 5y ago

It is straightforward to run an x86 macOS VM on Linux with QEMU & KVM. It's against the EULA to do so on non-Mac hardware, but technically it is possible.

userbinator 5y ago
"Virtual Hackintosh" is definitely quite popular, especially in regions where EULAs are not enforceable. But no one has managed to emulate the M1 enough to run the full OS yet[1], so that's a strictly x86-only option. [1] I believe this is the closest publicly documented effort, and it's a year old: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25064593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25064593