Re: Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
On Apr 9, 2008, at 11:08 PM, Ben Lachman wrote:
On Apr 9, 2008, at 3:27 PM, David Duncan wrote:
On Apr 9, 2008, at 7:43 AM, Lorenzo Bevilacqua wrote:
I'm trying to build a Cocoa application so that it can run on Mac
OS X from version 10.3.9 to 10.5.
I have 10.5 installed so the application runs fine on my system
and on other Leopard systems.
I haven't build a project for multiple platforms yet, so I tried
to duplicate the main Xcode target and set different deployment
target settings like
Typically you would only use 1 target. Use the SDK to the OS whose
API your are targeting (such as the 10.5 SDK). Then set the
deployment target to the minimum version you wish to run on
(example, 10.3). Finally, you would do runtime checks for API
availability.
This is totally true. Multiple binaries make unhappy users. Of
course buggy cross-version binaries make unhappy users too.
- Is there a way to differentiate part of code by platform? I
remember I saw in some files lines like this
#if MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET == MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_4
#endif
is this correct?
This is a compile time check. Generally it is appropriate if you
plan to ship a binary with a specific compile-time dependency. It
sounds like you really want a run time check, which requires you
to check for the availability of the features you are trying to
use. How you check for this will depend on what you are doing to
some degree.
To elaborate:
Your code will have checks like this in it:
if( [someObject respondsToSelector:@selector
(niftyLeopardFeatureMethod:)] )
[someObject niftyLeopardFeatureMethod:anotherObject];
else
// handle the 10.4 and/or 10.3.9 case
Actually, what I find to be a better arrangement is something like this:
#if MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_5
if (![someObject respondsToSelector:@selector
(niftyLeopardFeatureMethod:)])
{
// handle the pre-10.5 case here
}
else
#endif
{
// handle the 10.5+ case here
}
Picky, perhaps, but the benefit is that the check for existence of a
10.5 feature, plus the code that handles the older OS versions, is
inside a compile-time conditional. If you later change your
deployment target to 10.5, all the older OS pieces are compiled out.
You can also easily search your sources for
MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET to find your legacy code.
One caveat, though, is that you should probably have a runtime check
for the minimum OS version you expect so that you don't end up with a
crash if someone tries to use your nifty Leopard features on Tiger.
Adding something to main() would probably be easiest, either checking
against NSAppKitVersionNumber or calling Gestalt() to get the OS
version.
steve
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Re: Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
On Apr 10, 2008, at 6:19 PM, Chris Suter wrote: One caveat, though, is that you should probably have a runtime check for the minimum OS version you expect so that you don't end up with a crash if someone tries to use your nifty Leopard features on Tiger. Adding something to main() would probably be easiest, either checking against NSAppKitVersionNumber or calling Gestalt() to get the OS version. There's something you can put in the Info.plist that does this for free. I forget exactly what it is but I'm sure it's easily found. LSMinimumSystemVersion is the key. -- Ben Lachman Acacia Tree Software http://acaciatreesoftware.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] 740.590.0009 ___ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
On Apr 9, 2008, at 11:08 PM, Ben Lachman wrote: On Apr 9, 2008, at 3:27 PM, David Duncan wrote: Typically you would only use 1 target. Use the SDK to the OS whose API your are targeting (such as the 10.5 SDK). Then set the deployment target to the minimum version you wish to run on (example, 10.3). Finally, you would do runtime checks for API availability. That's fine if the classes exist in all the OS versions, but more commonly you'll want to use complete classes that are not available in earlier SDK, of which there are many, especially in Leopard. Code instantiating such classes must be put in separate bundles that are loaded when the user activates a Tiger/Leopard-only feature that requires instantiating a Tiger/Leopard-only class. It's another hoop you have to jump through. Also, when you encounter obscure bugs in 10.3, no one can help you because no one remembers them and no one cares. This is totally true. Multiple binaries make unhappy users. Of course buggy cross-version binaries make unhappy users too. And unhappy programmers. My estimate is that supporting 10.3-10.5 increases my development + testing + bug-fixing time increases by a factor of 1.5 over what it would be if it was 10.5 only, plus the penalty that I simply forego some features which are not practical to implement or disable in 10.3, and not worth the time to split off into my Tiger bundle. I recommend that you explain to your requirments guru(s) the high cost of 10.3-10.5 support and ask them to reconsider if you really need to do this, Lorenzo. ___ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:26 AM, Jerry Krinock [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That's fine if the classes exist in all the OS versions, but more commonly you'll want to use complete classes that are not available in earlier SDK, of which there are many, especially in Leopard. Code instantiating such classes must be put in separate bundles that are loaded when the user activates a Tiger/Leopard-only feature that requires instantiating a Tiger/Leopard-only class. This is only true if you are subclassing these classes. If you're only messaging/instantiating them, then you can use NSClassFromString instead of the raw class name to safely reference them without blowing up on the OSes that don't have them. Mike ___ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
Hi, I'm trying to build a Cocoa application so that it can run on Mac OS X from version 10.3.9 to 10.5. I have 10.5 installed so the application runs fine on my system and on other Leopard systems. I haven't build a project for multiple platforms yet, so I tried to duplicate the main Xcode target and set different deployment target settings like myApp for Leopard MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 10.5 myApp for Tiger MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 10.4 myApp for Panther MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 10.3 The SDK I use is the Leopard one. Till now all Ok, but when I try to compile for example the Tiger target I get some errors (mainly about fast enumeration). Thus I have some questions: - It is correct to proceed like I described above? - Does the Objective-C 2.0 fast enumeration make sense to be used? I mean, if I don't use it, will my application perform worse on Leopard? - Is there a way to differentiate part of code by platform? I remember I saw in some files lines like this #if MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET == MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_4 #endif is this correct? Thanks, Lorenzo Bevilacqua ___ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
Using Obj-C 2.0 can give a little speed boost over previous versions of Mac OS X. For building for other system versions sometimes you need to link to the SDK of that version if you find some symbols are missing (depreciated or removed). If you want to use certain features on one platform and not another you can use the #if statements. #if MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET == MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_4 /* 10.4 code here */ #else /* code for all others */ #endif On Apr 9, 2008, at 8:43 AM, Lorenzo Bevilacqua wrote: I'm trying to build a Cocoa application so that it can run on Mac OS X from version 10.3.9 to 10.5. I have 10.5 installed so the application runs fine on my system and on other Leopard systems. I haven't build a project for multiple platforms yet, so I tried to duplicate the main Xcode target and set different deployment target settings like myApp for Leopard MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 10.5 myApp for Tiger MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 10.4 myApp for Panther MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 10.3 The SDK I use is the Leopard one. Till now all Ok, but when I try to compile for example the Tiger target I get some errors (mainly about fast enumeration). Thus I have some questions: - It is correct to proceed like I described above? - Does the Objective-C 2.0 fast enumeration make sense to be used? I mean, if I don't use it, will my application perform worse on Leopard? - Is there a way to differentiate part of code by platform? I remember I saw in some files lines like this #if MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET == MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_4 #endif is this correct? ___ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Tips to deploy applications to multiple Mac OS X versions
- Does the Objective-C 2.0 fast enumeration make sense to be used? I mean, if I don't use it, will my application perform worse on Leopard? Unless you are doing a huge number of enumerations, the difference is speed will not be worth the extra coding hassle. Better check the difference using the performance tools, to make sure you are not making your code much more complex for a few microseconds of speed gain. Cheers, Patrick ___ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
