Some languages have the tooling and options to make cross-compiling much less painful. Rust, as an illustration, presents 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 large drawback with cross-platform compiling is how asymmetrical it may be. For those who’re a macOS person, it’s simple to arrange and keep Home windows or Linux digital machines on the Mac. For those who use Linux or Home windows, it’s tougher to emulate macOS on these platforms. Not unattainable, simply harder—the most important cause being the authorized points, as macOS’s EULA doesn’t permit it for use on non-Apple {hardware}. The simplest 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 according to trendy software program supply strategies, is to make use of a system like GitHub Actions (through GitHub-hosted runners) or Azure Pipelines to construct your software program on any of their supported goal platforms. (Each GitHub and Azure assist macOS.) The draw back is paying for using the service, however if you happen to’re already invested in both platform, it’s usually probably the most economical and least messy method. Plus, it retains the burden of system upkeep out of your arms.
