Is macOS 11 supported?

[judaew]

I'm a maintainer on MacPorts and have encountered an error during build in the current version of vfkit due to the use of VZVirtioSoundDeviceInputStreamConfiguration (which from macOS 12).

virtualization_12.m:178:69: error: use of undeclared identifier 'VZVirtioSoundDeviceInputStreamConfiguration'; did you mean 'newVZVirtioSoundDeviceInputStreamConfiguration'?
virtualization_12.m:163:7: note: 'newVZVirtioSoundDeviceInputStreamConfiguration' declared here
virtualization_12.m:178:54: error: use of undeclared identifier 'inputStream'
virtualization_12.m:179:10: error: unknown receiver 'inputStream'; did you mean 'NSInputStream'?
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX11.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Headers/NSUserActivity.h:12:109: note: 'NSInputStream' declared here
virtualization_12.m:179:34: error: use of undeclared identifier 'VZHostAudioInputStreamSource'
virtualization_12.m:180:16: error: use of undeclared identifier 'inputStream'
virtualization_12.m:193:18: error: use of undeclared identifier 'VZVirtioSoundDeviceOutputStreamConfiguration'; did you mean 'newVZVirtioSoundDeviceOutputStreamConfiguration'?
virtualization_12.m:190:7: note: 'newVZVirtioSoundDeviceOutputStreamConfiguration' declared here
virtualization_12.m:193:18: warning: receiver type 'void *(*)()' is not 'id' or interface pointer, consider casting it to 'id' [-Wreceiver-expr]
virtualization_12.m:205:9: error: use of undeclared identifier 'VZVirtioSoundDeviceOutputStreamConfiguration'; did you mean 'newVZVirtioSoundDeviceOutputStreamConfiguration'?
virtualization_12.m:190:7: note: 'newVZVirtioSoundDeviceOutputStreamConfiguration' declared here
virtualization_12.m:205:117: error: expected expression
fatal error: too many errors emitted, stopping now [-ferror-limit=]
make: *** [out/vfkit-arm64] Error 1

See https://trac.macports.org/ticket/69683.

Let me know if vfkit should support macOS 11.

[gbraad]

Apple stopped support for Big Sur (11) on 26 Sep 2023.

One of the consumers, CRC/OpenShift Local, which I lead has therefore ended support for this version as a target and added this as part of the documentation: https://crc.dev/crc/getting_started/getting_started/installing/#_requirements_on_macos

Our sister project: Podman Machine does not mention these requirements: https://podman.io/docs/installation

... however, both implementations depend on the EFI support by the virtualization framework, which I believe is only available from MacOS 13. So even when it compiles, it would not work for us and provide limited support.

Let me know if vfkit should support macOS 11.

It would be best for @cfergeau to chime in, ...

[cfergeau]

• vfkit should run on macOS 11, but will return errors for unsupported features (EFI boot, sound, ...)
• vfkit should build on macOS 11, see https://github.com/crc-org/vfkit/actions/runs/8422698590/job/23062561460 for a successful build
• podman requires EFI boot, so it requires macOS 13+ (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/virtualization/vzefibootloader note the 'macos 13.0+' label)

The error you are seeing could be caused by an outdated xcode/...version? This is what is used on the github builder where the build succeeds https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/main/images/macos/macos-11-Readme.md

[cfergeau]

Apart from this, with macOS 11/Big Sur out of support https://endoflife.date/macos , macOS 11 support could be dropped from vfkit at any time: the day something breaks badly in vfkit on macOS 11, if fixing it is costly, I'd drop macOS 11 support instead.

[gbraad]

I'd drop macOS 11 support instead.

Better to have a clear plan/date for this, such as half a year after support ended? (which is soon)

[cfergeau]

I'd drop macOS 11 support instead.

Better to have a clear plan/date for this, such as half a year after support ended? (which is soon)

The thing is, as long as it's not broken, we can keep the support. And I don't know when it will be break. With the next major macOS release and new virtualization framework APIs, maybe building on macOS 11 will break when we start using new APIs provided in this version. But even this, I don't know for sure.

[cfergeau]

These patches from NixOS should help with building on older macOS versions NixOS/nixpkgs@85c9003