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They mentioned the main use case when they launched the initial Mac ec2 instances. Any company that does something on iOS/macos needs mac hardware to run build

They mentioned the main use case when they launched the initial Mac ec2 instances. Any company that does something on iOS/macos needs mac hardware to run builds on, there is no other (legal) option. The status quo (even at very large companies) is some mac mini's under someones desk/in a closet somewhere. This is basically replacing the cost of that setup (ie the oncall for it/hassle). The AWS service is even more expensive than things like MacStadium because you also get AWS network connectivity and other features.

rsync 5y ago
Is this really true? There really isn’t a cross compiling chain that would allow me to build a macOS app on a freebsd system (for instance) ?
- bogwog 5y ago
  I've manually done it before (on Linux). Technologically it's not that hard to do, but legally is where it becomes a problem. IIRC the Xcode license (which applies to the iOS SDKs) requires you to use them on Apple branded computers. I don't know why Apple cares so much about that, especially since they're already collecting their yearly $100 tax from developers on top of the 30% revenue cut. I guess at their size, extracting every last penny is how you get to a trillion dollar valuation? So unless you have a strong legal defense ready, you should probably just pay Apple. EDIT: I should clarify that by "it's not that hard to do", I mean that it's easy because someone else already did the hard part :) https://github.com/tpoechtrager/cctools-port https://github.com/tpoechtrager/cctools-port
- pbalau 5y ago
  No. If you want to build things for the Apple ecosystem, you need to use the Apple ecosystem.
- david_allison 5y ago
  Cross-compiling is possible, but breaks the Xcode/Apple SDK license terms. https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross#packaging-the-sdk https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross#packaging-the-sdk https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/xcode.pdf https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/xcode.pdf

rsync 5y ago

Is this really true? There really isn’t a cross compiling chain that would allow me to build a macOS app on a freebsd system (for instance) ?

bogwog 5y ago
I've manually done it before (on Linux). Technologically it's not that hard to do, but legally is where it becomes a problem. IIRC the Xcode license (which applies to the iOS SDKs) requires you to use them on Apple branded computers. I don't know why Apple cares so much about that, especially since they're already collecting their yearly $100 tax from developers on top of the 30% revenue cut. I guess at their size, extracting every last penny is how you get to a trillion dollar valuation? So unless you have a strong legal defense ready, you should probably just pay Apple. EDIT: I should clarify that by "it's not that hard to do", I mean that it's easy because someone else already did the hard part :) https://github.com/tpoechtrager/cctools-port https://github.com/tpoechtrager/cctools-port
pbalau 5y ago
No. If you want to build things for the Apple ecosystem, you need to use the Apple ecosystem.
david_allison 5y ago
Cross-compiling is possible, but breaks the Xcode/Apple SDK license terms. https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross#packaging-the-sdk https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross#packaging-the-sdk https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/xcode.pdf https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/xcode.pdf