As I understand it, when you define a custom build rule with a script, Xcode will pass each matching input file to your script though variables like INPUT_FILE_PATH. So you normally don't need to explicitly list input files. However, there is an "input files" section in the build rule definition. How is that used? I'm hoping that it only used for dependencies and deciding whether a rule needs to be run. For example, suppose my rule is compiling a source file. Normally I just want to re-run the compile if the source file changes, but if the compiler itself changes, I probably also want to recompile. Can I list the compiler as an input file?

Will TestFlight for Mac be available for apps sold outside App Store?

I have an app that uses NSURLDownload to download some files. I get an SSL error when running on Sierra (macOS 10.12), but it works fine on El Capitan (10.11) and High Sierra (10.13) and later. Safari has no problem downloading the same file on Sierra. Logging the NSError from the download:didFailWithError: delegate method shows: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1200 "An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made." UserInfo={NSURLErrorFailingURLPeerTrustErrorKey=<SecTrustRef: 0x7f9620045950>, NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Would you like to connect to the server anyway?, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=3, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-9802, NSErrorPeerCertificateChainKey=(     "<cert(0x7f961f14ce00) s: files.frameforge.com i: R3>",     "<cert(0x7f961f12bc00) s: R3 i: ISRG Root X1>",     "<cert(0x7f961f12c400) s: ISRG Root X1 i: DST Root CA X3>" ), NSUnderlyingError=0x7f961e4af1a0 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1200 "An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made." UserInfo={NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://files.frameforge.com/webgrab/mac/ff4.0-mac-update-list.xml.wgz, NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Would you like to connect to the server anyway?, _kCFNetworkCFStreamSSLErrorOriginalValue=-9802, kCFStreamPropertySSLPeerCertificates=(     "<cert(0x7f961f14ce00) s: files.frameforge.com i: R3>",     "<cert(0x7f961f12bc00) s: R3 i: ISRG Root X1>",     "<cert(0x7f961f12c400) s: ISRG Root X1 i: DST Root CA X3>" ), _kCFStreamPropertySSLClientCertificateState=0, kCFStreamPropertySSLPeerTrust=<SecTrustRef: 0x7f9620045950>, NSLocalizedDescription=An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made., _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=3, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://files.frameforge.com/webgrab/mac/ff4.0-mac-update-list.xml.wgz, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-9802}}, NSLocalizedDescription=An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made., NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://files.frameforge.com/webgrab/mac/ff4.0-mac-update-list.xml.wgz, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://files.frameforge.com/webgrab/mac/ff4.0-mac-update-list.xml.wgz, NSErrorClientCertificateStateKey=0} Any idea how I could fix this? Regarding the recovery suggestion "Would you like to connect to the server anyway?", how would I do that, use an http URL?

When I tried reading the orderedIndex property of an NSWindow, either in my own code or in lldb, I got 9223372036854775807, which happens to be the largest signed 64-bit integer. I can live without it, but just wondering if anyone else noticed this.

Since updating to macOS 11.5.2, I'm getting almost constant crashes in EmojiFunctionRowIM_Extension, whatever that is. I'm not using any emoji. Anyone else? Can anything be done?

What does it means when -[MTLDevice newRenderPipelineStateWithDescriptor:options:reflection:error:] returns the error "No primitive topology specified for layer selection program generation"? We've seen this after Ogre has compiled a vertex shader that uses [[viewport_array_index]] on a Mac with Nvidia graphics.

I have a project with several targets, which use different header paths and have some C++ code conditionalized by preprocessor symbols with #if. The targets build without error, but "live issues" produces errors, because apparently it's using the wrong headers but the right preprocessor symbols. I've tried nuking the derived data. Any other suggestions? I'm using Xcode 13.2.

The functions CFURLGetFSRef and CFURLCreateFromFSRef have deprecation warnings that say "not supported". That confuses me, because when I see "deprecated" I think "it may stop working at some point in the future", and when I see "not supported" I think "it doesn't work now". Which is it?

In the documentation of -[NSBitmapImageRep initWithBitmapDataPlanes:pixelsWide:pixelsHigh:bitsPerSample:samplesPerPixel:hasAlpha:isPlanar:colorSpaceName:bitmapFormat:bytesPerRow:bitsPerPixel:], it says that the bitmap format mask can include NSBitmapFormatFloatingPointSamples, which suggests that the answer is yes, but it also says that the number of bits per component can be at most 16, which suggests that the answer is no.

I have some NSViews that come and go during printing, and I want them to dealloc soon rather than waiting until the whole printing process is finished. The problem is that inside -[NSView addSubview:], the subview gets retained several times, and one of those schedules a release using CFRunLoopPerformBlock. But I don't have a run loop running, so that's not happening. The documentation of CFRunLoopPerformBlock says If you want the work performed right away, you must explicitly wake up that thread using the CFRunLoopWakeUp function. But calling CFRunLoopWakeUp( CFRunLoopGetMain() ) does not help, probably because the run loop is not running. If I call -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask: ...] in one of the standard modes, then the block from CFRunLoopPerformBlock runs, but too much other stuff also runs, such as queued notifications.

I can't find any documentation on CGRequestPostEventAccess or its friend CGRequestListenEventAccess, except for the API declarations in CGEvent.h. The fact that it returns a boolean and doesn't have a completion callback or anything like that suggests that it should be synchronous, i.e., not return until the user has decided to grant or deny permission. Experimentally, that doesn't seem to be the case, but then what does the return value mean?

According to the documentation of the NSApplicationActivateAllWindows flag of -[NSRunningApplication activateWithOptions:], "all of the application's windows are brought forward". That does not actually happen, and has not since at least macOS 10.15. It did work in macOS 10.13, don't know about 10.14. Is there any reasonable alternative to achieve the same effect?

The new environment constraints talk about a responsible process versus the launching process, but I'm not clear on the difference, and haven't been able to find a definition of a responsible process.

I'm building a plug-in for an app that I did not create, and I would like to notarize it. I know I can so that using notarytool, but it would be nice if I could do it using Xcode. However, when I archive, it creates a "generic Xcode archive". I've read TN3110: Resolving generic Xcode archive issue. Since the plugin is being created by itself rather than as part of a larger build product, I assume that I should use the SKIP_INSTALL = NO build setting. I am less sure of what to do with the INSTALL_PATH build setting. If I leave it empty, then nothing gets created in the Products folder of the archive. If I set it to some path, then the product is placed in the archive but nested in a subfolder of Products.

I'm updating some very old code, and it sends an kAESync Apple Event to the Finder to let Finder know that a file has been created or updated. Does this still serve a purpose? I know that Apple Events still exist, but creating the event involves deprecated things like FSRef and AliasHandle. Possibly related: -[NSWorkspace noteFileSystemChanged:]. The documentation says that it informs the workspace object, so maybe it doesn't inform the Finder, and the documentation also says "Avoid calling this method if possible".