Please Test: White Star Intel Build

[dbsoft]

I need some people to test this build on older Intel MacOS versions, although any testing is welcome.

For the past couple years I've been building with Xcode 14 because in Xcode 15 they introduced a new linker and it caused problems with old versions of MacOS on Intel.

I was hoping that as the new linker matured these problems would be fixed but that hasn't seemed to happen. However I discovered that the new linker has an option to link using the old linker -ld_classic.

This reports as 33.1.0 but it is built from the UXP master branch so it is post 33.1.0. From my personal testing using the new linker it works back to at least 10.11. However it crashes on 10.7. I don't have any versions in between easily accessible. This was built with Xcode 15 using the -ld_classic linker option and worked on the latest MacOS (14) as well as 10.11 and 10.7. I assume this means it will function on all MacOS versions but I'd like some testing before I conclude that.

Thanks everyone for the help!

https://dbsoft.org/whitestar/whitestar- ... ntel64.dmg

[dbsoft]

Ok well no responses here or in private... if no one tests and gives me feedback I am going to assume it works... and if there are issues... you all will have to wait for a fix.

[CHris Hitarori]

I'd love to test, but I only have available: 10.4 (PPC), 10.5 (PPC), 10.6 (Intel), 10.11 and whatever number 'Sonoma' is (Intel). Would this be of any help?

[dbsoft]

Well, the two Intel versions are ones I personally have tested. I'd prefer other versions if possible... but any testing on Intel would be a help... if only to confirm my results.

[CHris Hitarori]

OK, I can make a clone of my 10.6 installation on a flash drive and update it to one of the versions in-between 10.7 and 10.11. Which one do you prefer? I would keep that one around for further testing if necessary.

I also tested on a Ventura machine (the one before Sonoma) I was able to get my hands on and the Whitestar build works normally there. Also, work normally on 10.11 and Sonoma, but (as expected) crashes on launch on 10.6.

[dbsoft]

OK, I can make a clone of my 10.6 installation on a flash drive and update it to one of the versions in-between 10.7 and 10.11. Which one do you prefer? I would keep that one around for further testing if necessary.

Either 10.8 or 10.9, I do have 10.10 somewhere it is just at the summer home and I have not been there yet this year.

[couplekisseggplant]

I only have 10.4 (PPC) and 10.6 (Intel) available. Is it necessary to check?

[dbsoft]

I only have 10.4 (PPC) and 10.6 (Intel) available. Is it necessary to check?

Not currently, these Intel builds are for 10.7 and later.

[CHris Hitarori]

OK, will test 10.8 this weekend, then update to 10.9 and test again, and keep the 10.9 installation for further testing.

BTW your Whitestar build specifies 10.5 (PPC) as a target in the info.plist. I was hopeful for a short while but (of course) it doesn't run there.

[dbsoft]

BTW your Whitestar build specifies 10.5 (PPC) as a target in the info.plist. I was hopeful for a short while but (of course) it doesn't run there.

I'm working on it, but it has some crashing issues which I haven't sorted out yet. I've been extremely busy trying to get an estate in order and have only had time for my work and the official release stuff. Should have more time after this week... so fingers crossed.

[CHris Hitarori]

Posting this from your White Star build running on 10.8. Apple doesn't offer 10.9 as a downloadable installer anymore, so I wasn't able to test that. But 10.8 is fine.

[dbsoft]

Posting this from your White Star build running on 10.8. Apple doesn't offer 10.9 as a downloadable installer anymore, so I wasn't able to test that. But 10.8 is fine.

Interesting, maybe it is only 10.7 that has problems then... thanks appreciate the testing!

[CHris Hitarori]

which build crashes on 10.7? The one you linked above In your first post? It's not really clear from what do you say there.

[dbsoft]

which build crashes on 10.7? The one you linked above In your first post? It's not really clear from what do you say there.

Ugh, you are right, that isn't what I was testing... if you could also test this build with the new linker and tell me the results on 10.8 that would be great:

https://dbsoft.org/whitestar/whitestar- ... ntel64.dmg

[CHris Hitarori]

Whitestar-33.1.0-newld.intel64 stays up on 10.8 as well, so it's only 10.7 that's the problem.

Since I now have a quick method of cloning 10.6-installations and updating them to whatever is available, I also tested on 10.7 and can confirm the crash for whitestar-33.1.0-newld.intel64, log see below. No problem on 10.7 for whitestar-33.1.0.intel64.

+++++++++++++++++++
Process: launchd [682]
Path: /Users/USER/Desktop/White Star.app/Contents/MacOS/whitestar
Identifier: org.mozilla.white star
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [179]

Date/Time: 2024-06-09 09:44:24.996 +0200
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63)
Report Version: 9

Crashed Thread: Unknown

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00007fff5fc01028

Backtrace not available

Unknown thread crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
rax: 0x0000000000000055 rbx: 0x0000000000000000 rcx: 0x0000000000000000 rdx: 0x0000000000000000
rdi: 0x0000000000000000 rsi: 0x0000000000000000 rbp: 0x0000000000000000 rsp: 0x0000000000000000
r8: 0x0000000000000000 r9: 0x0000000000000000 r10: 0x0000000000000000 r11: 0x0000000000000000
r12: 0x0000000000000000 r13: 0x0000000000000000 r14: 0x0000000000000000 r15: 0x0000000000000000
rip: 0x00007fff5fc01028 rfl: 0x0000000000010203 cr2: 0x00007fff5fc01028
Logical CPU: 1

Binary images description not available


External Modification Summary:
Calls made by other processes targeting this process:
task_for_pid: 1
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by all processes on this machine:
task_for_pid: 120484
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0

[dbsoft]

Whitestar-33.1.0-newld.intel64 stays up on 10.8 as well, so it's only 10.7 that's the problem.

That is also the crash I get in 10.7, interesting that it is only 10.7 that is the issue... but that is good to know. Not really sure how many people are using 10.7.

If Apple decides to remove the classic linker it is good to know only one currently supported version will be affected.

Thanks again for the help!

[CHris Hitarori]

Looks like launchd doesn't even get to open it but crashes itself when trying. No backtrace, no crash reporter for White Star.

You probably checked this already, but: What's the minimum OS target for this build? What's the deployment target for this project? What's the SDK it builds against?

[dbsoft]

You probably checked this already, but: What's the minimum OS target for this build? What's the deployment target for this project? What's the SDK it builds against?

The only difference between the two builds is the -ld_classic option to the linker, causing the first build to use the classic linker.

Both target 10.7 using the 11.3 SDK... the Info.plist has 10.5 as you pointed out to support PPC builds, but on Intel the target is set to 10.7.