Some languages have the tooling and options to make cross-compiling much less painful. Rust, as an illustration, provides cross-compiling as semi-native performance in its toolchain. However you’ll nonetheless want to usher in some extra bits to finish the expertise—for instance, a correct linker.
One huge drawback with cross-platform compiling is how asymmetrical it may be. If you happen to’re a macOS consumer, it’s straightforward to arrange and keep Home windows or Linux digital machines on the Mac. If you happen to use Linux or Home windows, it’s tougher to emulate macOS on these platforms. Not not possible, simply harder—the largest cause being the authorized points, as macOS’s EULA doesn’t enable it for use on non-Apple {hardware}. The best workaround (although hardly the most affordable) is to easily purchase a separate Macintosh system and use that. An alternative choice is to make use of instruments like osxcross to carry out cross-compilation on a Linux, FreeBSD, or OpenBSD system.
One other widespread possibility, one most consistent with trendy software program supply strategies, is to make use of a system like GitHub Actions (by way of GitHub-hosted runners) or Azure Pipelines to construct your software program on any of their supported goal platforms. (Each GitHub and Azure help macOS.) The draw back is paying for using the service, however should you’re already invested in both platform, it’s typically essentially the most economical and least messy method. Plus, it retains the burden of system upkeep out of your arms.
