Cross-compilation for iOS fails after upgrade to Big Sur (macOS 11)

[coelle]

Describe the bug
After updating a system to macOS 11 the cross compilation for iPhone fails with the message

Run-time dependency appleframeworks found: NO (tried framework)

meson.build:3:0: ERROR: Dependency "appleframeworks" not found, tried framework

I attached the succeeding and failing meson-log files:

• succeeds: meson-log-macos-10.15.log
• fails: meson-log-macos-11.2.log

After

export SDKROOT=$(xcrun --sdk iphoneos --show-sdk-path)

and retrying on macOS 11, I get the following hint in the log file:

Compiler stderr:
 ld: warning: ignoring file /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS14.4.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks//LocalAuthentication.framework/LocalAuthentication.tbd, missing required architecture x86_64 in file /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS14.4.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks//LocalAuthentication.framework/LocalAuthentication.tbd (4 slices)
ld: building for iOS, but linking in object file built for iOS Simulator, file '/var/folders/8g/b9x3y6tj3yxf988c4gkb5ybc0000gp/T/testfile-cf7953.o' for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

which indicates, the xcodebuild expects some architecture parameter.

If I use the clang++ command from the meson-log.txt and

• set SDKROOT correctly
• append -arch arm64 to the command-line
  the setup succeeds on macOS 11 and file output.exe results in output.exe: Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64.

So, how do I have to modify the meson.build for a succeeding build?

To Reproduce

meson.build

project('Objective C++', 'objcpp')

appleframeworks_dep = dependency('appleframeworks', modules: ['Foundation', 'Security', 'LocalAuthentication'])
exe = executable('objcppprog', 'prog.mm', dependencies: [appleframeworks_dep])
test('Simple Build', exe)

prog.mm

int main(void) {  return 0; }

cross-file.txt

[host_machine]
system = 'darwin'
cpu_family = 'aarch64'
cpu = 'arm64'
endian = 'little'

[binaries]
ar = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/ar'
as = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/as'
c = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang'
cc = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang'
cpp = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang'
cxx = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang++'
ld = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/ld'
objc = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang'
objcpp = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang++'
ranlib = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/ranlib'
strip = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/strip'

[properties]
skip_sanity_check = true
ios_deployment_target = '13.0'
vendor = 'apple'
target_dir = 'apple-iphoneos13.0-aarch64-arm64-little'
sys_root = '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS.sdk'

Setup

meson setup --cross-file cross-file.txt build

Expected behavior
Finish the setup without error and meson test -C build should run but should skip the test.

system parameters

• Is this a cross build or just a plain native build (for the same computer)? cross build
• what operating system (e.g. MacOS Catalina, Windows 10, CentOS 8.0, Ubuntu 18.04, etc.)
  • Fails on macOS 11.2.1 and Xcode 12.3 / 12.4
  • Succeeds on macOS 10.15.7 and Xcode 12.3
• what Python version are you using e.g. 3.8.0: 3.8.2 (from Xcode)
• what meson --version : 0.56.0 (but 0.57.0 fails, too)
• what ninja --version if it's a Ninja build: 1.10.2

[dcbaker]

@jpakkane, @nirbheek, can either of you verify this? My macbook stopped updating at Catalina

[coelle]

Tell me if I can help in any way.

[jpakkane]

I tested this and could make it work by adding these entries to the cross file's properties entry:

objcpp_args = ['-arch', 'arm64']
objcpp_link_args = ['-arch', 'arm64']

I also had to set SDKROOT. Presumably there is also a command line argument you can give to the compiler/linker to make it work, but I don't know enough about macOS to know what that might be.

[coelle]

Thank you very much! This solved it. :-)

Did I miss anything in the documentation or is this a "try-and-error" thing?

[coelle]

Problem solved.

[coelle]

Short update:
The settings provided above solve the problem on macOS 11 but are not applicable for macOS 10. (both Xcode 12.4)
Ticket can stay closed.