Mac arm64 build for 7.7.x

[bernhard-42]

According to CadQuery/cadquery#1236 (comment) OCP now can build arm64 libs for Mac as conda packages.
Will Mac arm64 be supported by the upcoming 7.7.x wheel too?

[fpq473]

In theory we could just add it here:

ocp-build-system/.github/workflows/build-wheel.yml

Line 18 in da4c4dd

os: [ 'ubuntu-20.04', 'macos-11', 'windows-latest' ]

but are github actions available on macos/arm64? A cursory search suggests no.

[jmwright]

I saw the other day that support for GitHub-hosted Apple Silicon is in beta and is expected to go public in Q3 2023: github/roadmap#528

They have that conversation locked, probably because so many devs like me would bug them about it when it will be released. They've supported self-hosted M1 runners since August 2022.

The OCP wheel build should support the GitHub-hosted M1 runner when it's available, but we either have to wait until Q3 2023, or somebody has to set up a self-hosted runner.

[bernhard-42]

Hmmm, wasn't aware of this dependency.
Thanks for looking into it!

[fpq473]

@fungiboletus notes in CadQuery/OCP#108 (comment):

A workaround could be about using docker buildx with qemu. It works relatively well in github actions, though you have to build things inside a container and not directly in the action.

[akoen]

https://github.blog/changelog/2023-10-02-github-actions-apple-silicon-m1-macos-runners-are-now-available-in-public-beta/

[jmwright]

Thanks for the heads-up @akoen

[jmwright]

I tried to enable this runner, unfortunately GitHub does not have a free version for open source projects yet (and I don't know if they have plans to). See the comment here.

[bernhard-42]

@jmwright
I build the M1 wheels for myself using ocp-build-system (and host them in my own pypi server locally)

# size       wheel
  161081972  cadquery_ocp-7.7.1-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
  161082182  cadquery_ocp-7.7.1-cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
  161087133  cadquery_ocp-7.7.1-cp39-cp39-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl

I could contribute them, but don't know how my wheels could be integrated into your workflow.

[jmwright]

It's not a solution for this issue, but someone posted on the CadQuery repo that they were able to get CadQuery to run on an M1 Mac. CadQuery/cadquery#1434

[jeremiahrose]

There is no ETA for free osx-arm64 runners from Github and they apparently aren't even working on it at present (source). And there are no linux-aarch64 runners or ETA for them being available.

However, if the Conda package is already being cross compiled to arm64, then surely it would be possible to convert that recipe to Pip and use it in this repo on an intel runner - right?

I'd be happy to assist with this as I really need an easily-installable-with-pip Cadquery for my team.

[jeremiahrose]

Here is the PR that added osx-arm64 to conda: conda-forge/ocp-feedstock#17

[jeremiahrose]

After trying a few different approaches, building locally ended up being the path of least resistance. I'd be happy to do this on a regular basis on my M1 Macbook and upload the wheels to PyPi if that'd be helpful?

PR containing the build script here: #18

[rawwerks]

just curious if there is a plan to take @jeremiahrose up on his offer (#18), or if i should plan to work around this issue for the foreseeable future.