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How does licensing work, or am I hopelessly out of date? My understanding is historically the EULA-type thing on the OS only allowed you to virtualize on anothe

by giobox 3y ago

How does licensing work, or am I hopelessly out of date? My understanding is historically the EULA-type thing on the OS only allowed you to virtualize on another Mac running macOS, or something along these lines, similar to other comment above. This always caused all sorts of fun for automated testing scenarios for me in years past... The technical barriers weren't the biggest headache around this in a commercial setting previously.

Wowfunhappy 3y ago
Right, so you can run macOS inside ESXI on an Intel Mac and be fully EULA-compliant. This is a thing people do.
- lloeki 3y ago
  Or on Linux in Virtualbox, which combined with GitLab runner's virtualbox executor leveraging snapshotting provides you with instant-on, clean state macOS for each job run.
  - toyg 3y ago
    You mean a virtualized Linux on Mac, that in turn runs VirtualBox? Because afaik, as soon as MacOS is not on Apple hardware at some level, it's not license-compliant.
    - jagged-chisel 3y ago
      As long as real Mac hardware is anywhere in the stack, you are compliant.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
lloeki 3y ago
> allowed you to virtualize on another Mac running macOS ^W^W and you'd be right. The only runtime requirement is Apple hardware. The initial wording was something along the lines as "on Apple-branded hardware", creating (if you were a bit zany) the loophole of stamping an Apple sticker on any hardware and declare it Apple-branded. That was the joke in some Hackintosh circles circa Snow Leopard.
actionfromafar 3y ago
EULAs are far from completely legally binding in all jurisdictions. In fact, they seem to be a smorgasbord of legalese.
- giobox 3y ago
  I'm absolutely aware of this. It doesn't change the fact most professional medium to large enterprises will want to follow along, so whether it's truly legally binding or not is a moot point in reality a lot of the time.
  - actionfromafar 3y ago
    Yes, which is why I’m always surprised when companies are willing to offer products tending to these edgy markets.
wkat4242 3y ago
There was no technical barrier. ESXi until version 8 simply would recognise if it was running on a Mac and would offer macOS guest support automatically and officially. The hacks (like donk's unlocker) were only needed if you wanted to run on non-Mac hardware. I still run some Macs at work with ESXi on it for this purpose. With version 7 because VMWare stopped supporting Mac with ESXi 8. Sadly, because Apple hasn't even stopped yet making intel versions, it's a bit early IMO.

by giobox 3y ago

Wowfunhappy 3y ago

Right, so you can run macOS inside ESXI on an Intel Mac and be fully EULA-compliant. This is a thing people do.

lloeki 3y ago
Or on Linux in Virtualbox, which combined with GitLab runner's virtualbox executor leveraging snapshotting provides you with instant-on, clean state macOS for each job run.
- toyg 3y ago
  You mean a virtualized Linux on Mac, that in turn runs VirtualBox? Because afaik, as soon as MacOS is not on Apple hardware at some level, it's not license-compliant.
  - jagged-chisel 3y ago
    As long as real Mac hardware is anywhere in the stack, you are compliant.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

lloeki 3y ago

> allowed you to virtualize on another Mac running macOS ^W^W and you'd be right. The only runtime requirement is Apple hardware. The initial wording was something along the lines as "on Apple-branded hardware", creating (if you were a bit zany) the loophole of stamping an Apple sticker on any hardware and declare it Apple-branded. That was the joke in some Hackintosh circles circa Snow Leopard.

actionfromafar 3y ago

EULAs are far from completely legally binding in all jurisdictions. In fact, they seem to be a smorgasbord of legalese.

giobox 3y ago
I'm absolutely aware of this. It doesn't change the fact most professional medium to large enterprises will want to follow along, so whether it's truly legally binding or not is a moot point in reality a lot of the time.
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  Yes, which is why I’m always surprised when companies are willing to offer products tending to these edgy markets.

wkat4242 3y ago

There was no technical barrier. ESXi until version 8 simply would recognise if it was running on a Mac and would offer macOS guest support automatically and officially. The hacks (like donk's unlocker) were only needed if you wanted to run on non-Mac hardware. I still run some Macs at work with ESXi on it for this purpose. With version 7 because VMWare stopped supporting Mac with ESXi 8. Sadly, because Apple hasn't even stopped yet making intel versions, it's a bit early IMO.