[Lazarus] LCL on Mac 64 bit

Schindler Karl-Michael karl-michael.schindler at web.de
Thu Jun 15 18:53:11 CEST 2017


> Am 15.06.2017 um 17:36 schrieb lazarus-request at lists.lazarus-ide.org:
> 
> Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 17:36:02 +0200
> From: Andrea Mauri <andrea.mauri.75 at gmail.com>
> To: lazarus at lists.lazarus-ide.org
> Subject: Re: [Lazarus] LCL on Mac 64 bit
> Message-ID: <68611eb5-860f-c59c-7fae-d56420f8c8df at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> 
>> When the IDE runs on Cocoa we will change it. Was that your question?
> 
> I would like to know if it is possible to build LCL 64 bit application 
> on MacOSX with lazarus (eventually which version?). If not, if there is 
> temptative scheduling for that.
> 
> Andrea

A simple question with a complex answer, because it depends on what features of the LCL your program is using. For a comparison, look here: 

http://wiki.freepascal.org/Roadmap

The carbon-based LCL has probably the most features, but is 32-bit only. The cocoa-based LCL is 64-bit, but has much less features. This is the reason, why there is no cocoa based Lazarus. The Qt-based LCL is also 64-bit and has more features, but may not be considered 100% native, but i will come to that point later. Finally, with quite some effort you can use the 64-bit GTK2-based LCL, although that look is definitely not native. In any case, try the latest release version of Lazarus, 1.6.4 at the moment.

Keep in mind that the 32-bit carbon-based Lazarus is capable to build and use any of the other LCLs. Using it only determines the default LCL. The effort to use one of the others has a wide range. Cocoa should be easy, Qt requires qt4pas and the Qt libraries, and for GTK2 you should take a package manager like Fink (my preference), MacPorts or Homebrew.

I also want to note, that Lazarus does mainly take care of the look of the graphical elements. There is a marked difference between native look and native behavior. Lazarus does NOT take care of everything. Whether this is critical or not, depends on the expectations of your customers. Look here: http://wiki.freepascal.org/Multiplatform_Programming_Guide

In general, Mac users appear to be more arrogant than users of other platforms, because they have a narrower expectation for native behavior. Some even show signs of allergy towards that particular smell of Windows 😉

Regarding the choice a specific Mac, any Mac should do it, since compiling with FreePascal is fast, unless your program is really very large.

I hope this helps and doesn't stop you from trying.

If your program is open source I could probably give it a try.

Michael.


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