LiveCode 9.6.8 Stable: M1 and Onwards Apple Architecture Support

by Panagiotis Merakos on July 8, 2022 2 comments

We are delighted to announce the release of 9.6.8 Stable. The major feature of this release is support for the latest Apple Architecture, meaning you no longer need to run LiveCode under Rosetta 2 on the newest Mac OS’s. There are also a number of fixes and enhancements, including resolution of the version number reporting issue introduced with MacOS Big Sur.

NEW FEATURES

MacOS Apple Architecture Support

Native support for the arm64-based Apple architecture (eg M1, M2, etc) has been added to the MacOS IDE, standalone, and server engine. The IDE and server engine are now shipped as universal binaries with both an Intel and Apple architecture slice. All externals shipped with LiveCode, except for XPDF and the dboracle revdb driver, also now support Apple architecture. You can determine which architecture a running MacOS engine is using with “the processor” function in LiveCode Script, or the “the architecture” syntax in LiveCode Builder. If running as Intel architecture, these will return “x86_64”; and if running as Apple architecture, these will return “arm64”.

Note: Apple architecture support is currently experimental. To run the IDE using Apple architecture (on supported machines), you must toggle the “Open using Rosetta” option in the LiveCode.app bundle’s “Get Info” pane in Finder.

Note: As the server engine is a bare executable, it will run using the native architecture of the host machine. If this is of concern, either use the “arch” shell command to force it run using Intel architecture, or the “lipo” shell command to remove the Apple architecture slice.

Standalone Builder Apple Architecture Support

Support for building MacOS standalones which have native Apple architecture support has been added to the standalone builder. You can now select whether you want to build a MacOS standalone with an Intel slice, an Apple slice, or both on the MacOS pane of standalone settings.

Note: Apple architecture support is currently experimental. To build a standalone with native Apple architecture support you must explicitly choose the MacOS Apple option in standalone settings.

BREAKING CHANGES

Correction to system version string on MacOS

The engine will now return the correct value for “the systemVersion” on all MacOS versions. Previously, when running on MacOS 11.0 and above, the system version would be reported as “10.16.0”. Now, on Big Sur, the system version will be reported starting from “11.0.0”; and, on Monterey, the system version will be reported starting from “12.0.0”.

BUGS FIXED

  • The revpdfprinter driver is now included with the server engine allowing open printing to pdf to work
  • Repeatedly setting the filename of a mobile player control on iOS now works reliably
  • On MacOS, the systemVersion will now return the correct value on all operating system versions
  • The default deployment platforms for a new stack are now appropriate for the current license
  • Using exit to top in a function called when evaluating a function call’s arguments now works correctly
  • AppleScript can now be used to control other applications from both the IDE and standalones on MacOS
  • The minWidth, maxWidth, minHeight and maxHeight properties now work correctly on stacks which have their scaleFactor set
  • The XPDF external is available again
  • Exiting fullscreen media playback will no longer cause a crash on iOS
  • The (legacy) Android app icon standalone setting will now persist from older versions of LiveCode
  • The return value of “do as applescript” is now formatted correctly when running through Rosetta on Apple architecture macs
  • The map widget API key is now reliably included in the standalone manifest
  • Folders added to the Copy Files list are now included recursively in web standalones
  • Adding empty files to the Copy Files list will no longer cause standalone building to fail when targetting iOS
  • The supported platforms of the INI Library , Mac Status Menu, Secure Key Storage, Time zone library and Drawing library extensions are now displayed correctly in the standalone builder
  • Encoding text to utf16be using the textEncode function now works correctly on Windows
  • The User Guide PDF no longer has missing images
  • Using the image variant of export when the source is not an image object will no longer cause a crash.
  • Updating the screen in a tight loop on MacOS will no longer cause memory usage to slowly increase
  • The dictionary entries for mergJSON are available again
  • The put command can now be used without a target before else in a single-line if statement
  • Redraw glitches no longer occur when performing a visual effect immediately after another window update on MacOS
  • Using the widget variant of export when the source is an unknown widget kind will no longer cause a crash

We recommend updating to use this release if you are using any earlier version now, as this is a Stable release. To get it download from your account here or use the automatic updater inside LiveCode. Not got an account yet? Sign up here.

Panagiotis MerakosLiveCode 9.6.8 Stable: M1 and Onwards Apple Architecture Support

2 comments

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  • Brian Wis - July 9, 2022 reply

    Will this version work with Xcode 13?

    Heather Laine - July 11, 2022 reply

    Yes, if you are running MacOS 11 or above you can use Xcode 13.

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