CI: add GitHub Actions check for Apple Silicon (M1) build

[678098]

Is there an existing proposal for this?

• I have searched the existing proposals

Is your feature request related to a problem?

We don't have automatic checks for M1/M2 builds.

Describe the solution you'd like

According to this roadmap, Apple Silicon (M1) is in public beta in GitHub Actions:

github/roadmap#528

Might be possible to use the corresponding runner to check darwin build script automatically.

Alternatives you considered

No response

[Sudo-Guy]

I can pick this up. Just to clarify we want to take advantage of the M1 runners to see if blazingmq builds via the darwin build script successfully?

[678098]

I can pick this up. Just to clarify we want to take advantage of the M1 runners to see if blazingmq builds via the darwin build script successfully?

Hi @Sudo-Guy! That is correct, need to implement a check for the darwin build script using M1 or M2 (if available) GitHub Runner.
Will assign it to you then. Thanks!

[678098]

Hi @Sudo-Guy! Do you plan working on this?

[Sudo-Guy]

I'll get around to it this weekend. A minor issue is that I need access to an ARM Mac machine right now, and free runners are unavailable.

[678098]

Thanks for the latest info @Sudo-Guy. Yes, indeed, they opened larger runners only, which are not free, on the 2nd of October, after this issue was opened.
https://github.blog/2023-10-02-introducing-the-new-apple-silicon-powered-m1-macos-larger-runner-for-github-actions/
Don't know if we want to pause this task then. Will discuss it on our side and return.

[678098]

@Sudo-Guy it seems that it's not possible to use free M1/M2 runners right now.
actions/runner-images#8439 (comment)

We discussed it and decided to wait until/if free Darwin runners are available.
In the meantime, we think it's still a good idea to check if build is okay on amd64 intel MacOS.

Could you add this workflow? macos-latest runner should work for now

[Sudo-Guy]

Sure, sounds good.

[kgantchev]

...if free Darwin runners are available.

Might I make a suggestion? Feel free to use FlyCI's M1 and M2 runners. Our runners are on average 2x faster and 2x cheaper than GitHub's AND we have a free tier for OSS projects (see below).

Install Instructrions

Easily replace your M1 runners:

jobs:
 ci:
-    runs-on: macos-latest
+    runs-on: flyci-macos-large-latest-m1
   steps:
   - name: 👀 Checkout repo
     uses: actions/checkout@v4

Or try the M2 runners:

jobs:
  ci:
-    runs-on: macos-latest
+    runs-on: flyci-macos-large-latest-m2
    steps:
      - name: 👀 Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

Pricing

Processor	vCPU	RAM (GB)	Storage	Label	Price on FlyCI	Price on GitHub
M1	4	7	28 GB	flyci-macos-large-latest-m1	$0.06	-
M1	8	14	28 GB	flyci-macos-xlarge-latest-m1	$0.12	$0.16
M2	4	7	28 GB	flyci-macos-large-latest-m2	$0.08	-
M2	8	14	28 GB	flyci-macos-xlarge-latest-m2	$0.16	-

500 mins/month Free for Public Repos

If your repo is public, then FlyCI offers 500 mins/month of free M1 runner usage with the flyci-macos-large-latest-m1 runner.

Best Regards,
Kiril Gantchev
CEO and co-founder of FlyCI

[678098]

Hi @kgantchev! Thank you for the suggestion. The proposed option is great for small open source projects. However, we have many developers who actively make changes in the repo.

Some calculations. The free quota is 500 min, consider M1/M2 runner time 20 min for each CI launch. With these assumptions, the quota will be exceeded after ~25 CI launches.

This means:

• On PR checks - exceed the quota, because we have >25 PR updates per month.
• Daily main branch checks - exceed the quota, because 25 is less than a number of days in month.
• Weekly main branch checks - fit the quota.

In conclusion, weekly checks could be performed, which could be good enough for us. I will discuss it with the team.

[678098]

GitHub Actions: Introducing the new M1 macOS runner available to open source!

https://github.blog/changelog/2024-01-30-github-actions-introducing-the-new-m1-macos-runner-available-to-open-source/

[678098]

Hi @syuzvinsky, could you do this when you have time?

[pniedzielski]

For reference, this is how memray has done it.

[678098]

#205