Darling is a translation layer that lets you run macOS software on Linux, not an emulator, it’s like wine but for MacOS apps.

  • @shrugal@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Oh come on, we could have lived in a world where the translation layers are called WINE and DINE!

  • ᗪᗩᗰᑎ
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    8910 months ago

    for those not familiar, this basically lets you run command line tools. anything with a GUI will not work.

      • ᗪᗩᗰᑎ
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        2610 months ago

        I’ve been hoping this project makes significant progress for the last few years to run GUI apps. unfortunately it’s been slow as there’s not as much interest in getting Mac apps to run on Linux as there is with WINE. that said, I don’t fault them, it’s a daunting task and wine has the benefit of three decades of progress under their belt.

    • @Limeey@lemmy.world
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      2210 months ago

      Everything starts somewhere, but I wonder what macOS cli’s are the target for this tool that doesn’t have a Linux equivalent

      • ᗪᗩᗰᑎ
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        3210 months ago

        CLI’s are likely not specifically the target. I suspect the CLI is just the “low hanging fruit” and core set of software that needs to be supported before you build up to a fully functional GUI apps.

    • MacN'Cheezus
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      810 months ago

      Seeing how the majority of CLI apps available on the Mac are ported over from Linux in the first place, what is even the point?

  • @AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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    1110 months ago

    For software that’s currently available on both Windows and MacOS, how does the performance of the Windows version under Wine compare to the MacOS version under Darling?

    • @bamboo@lemm.ee
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      2010 months ago

      Wine is much, much better at this point. In particular, Darling doesn’t have much support for GUIs yet, so unless it is a command line tool you probably want to stick with Wine.

    • @Pantherina@feddit.de
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      410 months ago

      I imagine if Darling gets as well supported it would be better. But it will not be optimized as much, even though the core architecture may be way more similar

    • @GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1210 months ago

      Haven’t tried it yet, but I can see myself using it in the future. It could be great for automating Mac/iOS development and administrative workflows. I don’t think you can compile, sign, notarize, or inspect Mac/iOS apps without Xcode tools (which are, of course, Mac-only). It’s a pain in the ass to operate Mac VMs for such purposes, and it’s only getting more difficult as time goes on. IIRC Apple only allows 2 guest VMs per host now.

      Not sure if there are any non-Mac tools to work with dmg files (Mac disk images).

      If GUI support is sufficiently developed in the future, there are plenty of Mac apps I would like to run. iPhone app support on Linux would be an absolute game-changer.

    • @Pantherina@feddit.de
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      410 months ago

      I mean they have lots of MS Apps, Adobe stuff, some video editors and all that, maybe MS apps on macOS are less hard to run

    • @J4g2F@lemmy.ml
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      110 months ago

      If in the future it ever gets good support for gui’s and is stable. For sure gone try Qlab.

      It’s simple the best show control software I tried yet. But for now I will be using Linux show player or borrow a MacBook.

    • @ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
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      -210 months ago

      Safari is by far the best browser for battery performance. I’m uncertain if this would translate over to safari running in darling when it supports guis fully.

  • brianorca
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    510 months ago

    How long until they stop delivering apps with Intel support, which would break this tool?

    • @KseniyaK@lemmy.ca
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      410 months ago

      Uhm, if that happens, maybe the devs could use something like qemu or a specialized fork of it?

  • @rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml
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    510 months ago

    I don’t really understand the appeal of this. What command line software is there on MacOS that there isn’t an adequate equivalent to on Linux?

    • sparky@lemmy.federate.ccA
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      2410 months ago

      Well, none. One assumes the aspiration is to implement Cocoa, to allow GUI apps to run.

    • @Pantherina@feddit.de
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      1110 months ago

      Its a first step. And then some day complex software can run, even though I have the feeling that has all shady DRM stuff inside

    • @lelgenio@lemmy.ml
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      810 months ago

      For me the appeal is potentially being able to verify that my code at least compiles and has basic functionality on Darwin. No idea if this can be useful for anyone other than developers.

    • sparky@lemmy.federate.ccA
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      510 months ago

      Well, none. One assumes the aspiration is to implement Cocoa, to allow GUI apps to run.

  • JokeDeity
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    510 months ago

    I’m a Windows user so this is even less relevant to me, but I can’t think of a single program or application I would even want that’s only on Mac.

  • Rentlar
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    310 months ago

    Cool. Do you know if this project will support PowerPC-era Mac OS X apps or if that makes any difference? There are a bunch of quirky and fun games that could avoid being lost to time if an “emulator” can run them.