Xcode 4 issues

[Jasper Frumau]

On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 4:16 AM, James Berry <jberry at macports.org> wrote:

> Sorry for the cross-post, but as this issue has been on both the users and
> the dev lists, I'm posting to both.
>
> I know that there's a lot of concern about the cost of Xcode 4, as well as
> of some compatibility issues. I know the portmgr team has been thinking
> about this, and has passed on some of the concerns to some relevant people
> within Apple. I thought I'd take a moment to bring up what we do know about
> this issue, based on various reports.
>
>  (1) Xcode 4 is currently not free. It is available for $5 US through the
> Mac App Store, or available to developer who have a paid Apple Developer
> account (~$99).
>
>  (2) Xcode 3 is still available, and remains free at this time.
>
>  (3) PortMgr is requesting that wherever possible, no Xcode 4 requirements
> be placed into ports.
>
>  (4) By and large, the Xcode 4 tools, if installed, should be compatible
> with MacPorts, though this issue hasn't been widely explored; there may be
> some issues with SDK versions available in the various Xcode installs.
>
>  (5) The SDKs installed by various versions of Xcode have always been a
> changing target; this isn't a completely new issue.
>
>  (6) Apple has made no public announcements, that I know of, concerning the
> developer tools environment in Mac OS X Lion, expected for release this
> year. We don't know, for instance, if Xcode 3 will continue to be free, or
> whether it will function on Lion, nor if there will be any other build
> environment (tools, SDKs, etc) available for free for Lion.
>
> I think that's a fair list of some of the issues. If there are more, they
> can be added to the list. Maybe somebody can get some of this growing
> compilation onto the Wiki.
>

Sounds like a good idea.

>
> It's my hope and desire, and I believe that of most members of the MacPorts
> project, that there will continue to be no-charge development tools and SDKs
> available on Mac OS X into the future. A good compromise between free and
> not free might be for there to be free command line tools and SDK, with the
> Xcode GUI available for a fee.
>

That sounds like a good option. I do not need the GUI. I just love MacPorts
for web development and its ability to use neat Open Source software. If
MacPorts would need Xcode 4 in the future and I would need to pay $4 or $99
a year to get it so I can use MacPorts I will just use Linux in VirtualBox
instead. I am not planning to pay for the use of Open Source programs on my
Mac OSX.

>
> In summary, not much has changed as-of yet: Xcode 3 is still available and
> free; what the future holds is somewhat less certain. I encourage MacPorts
> developers and users who want to influence that future to make their wishes
> known to any Apple contacts you might be able to leverage.
>

Me too. People on this list work for Apple so hereby I am voicing my
concerns too. Please keep Xcode free. Either for command line MacPorts
purposes or as a whole.

>
>
> James
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>
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