Provide native(universal) builds for M1(arm64) MacBooks

[axonasif]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I installed the latest build of CopyQ from Releases but realised that it's still only compiled for x86 architecture. I can still use it almost perfectly with the rosetta translation of the M1 chip but nothing like having a native build.

Describe the solution you'd like
I'm not sure if we already can successfully compile for the M1(arm64), but it would be great if you guys can provide an universal macOS package with native binaries for M1. I'm more than happy if there is anything I can help with in terms of testing and such :)

Describe alternatives you've considered
NULL

Additional context
Nothing, but thanks for reading!

[hluk]

Ideally, we need a way to build the app with GitHub Actions. Related to #1873.

[axonasif]

Ideally, we need a way to build the app with GitHub Actions. Related to #1873.

Agreed 💯 But sadly M1 runners aren't available yet: actions/runner-images#2187, I wonder if QEMU can be used.

Other than that, I was able to replicate the tasks from build-macos.yml and got myself the CopyQ.app for M1 arch a while back, it's working very nicely than before! Previously it used to be "Intel" on the Kind section, now it's "Apple".

Yesterday I was trying to follow this although it turns out to be incomplete, can I step forward and update this section through a PR 😃 ?

Thanks!

[hluk]

PRs are welcome!

[Moulick]

@axonasif can you please give the steps to build m1 variant, really would appreciate it. CopyQ is the only thing running Intel for me right now.

[axonasif]

Hey @Moulick, I raised a PR: #1961, you can just check there 😄
I was going to do it way before but was busy and forgot 😬

[Moulick]

@axonasif left a couple comments in the PR, but yeah, was able to build a M1 native build from them 🎉. Now only if we could put them in Github actions, I wonder how other projects are doing M1 builds when Github does not support them.

[reagle]

Would this Github announcement in May/June help? github/roadmap#528

Summary
Apple developers will get the hardware and performance they need for their CI/CD operations with GitHub-hosted macOS runners powered by Apply silicone in an OSX arm64 runtime. The new runner options will make certain their apps are compatible with past, present, and future software requirements and have the performance they need to increase development velocity.

Intended Outcome
Developers that want to build and deploy their applications using the latest Apple technologies will be able to do so with ease using GitHub Actions.

How will it work?
To get started using M1 powered GitHub-hosted macOS runners, create a new GitHub-hosted runner with the desired machine specifications. Then, update the runs-on: key in your Actions workflow YAML to have those jobs target your larger runner.

[hluk]

We could probably use that when they provide the runner: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments#available-environments

[Moulick]

GitHub actions still do not have the M1 Darwin 😞 actions/runner-images#2187. I am compiling for M1 locally every time there is a new release like the 6.3.1 a few hours ago. @hluk I can share the native M1 compiled copyq.app with you every time CopyQ has a release if you'd like, you could sign it and include it in the release artefacts if that helps us distribute the M1 native version to more people.

Another option could be cross-compiling using qemu which I am currently doing for my golang based projects. Though I have no experience with C++ so I would not know how to go about doing that

[reagle]

@Moulick, I'm looking forward to the universals binaries, CopyQ is the last Rosetta app I use. Have you noticed any memory leaks with the arm64 version #1928 ?

[Moulick]

@Moulick, I'm looking forward to the universals binaries, CopyQ is the last Rosetta app I use. Have you noticed any memory leaks with the arm64 version #1928 ?

@reagle I didn't see CopyQ have any memory leak, I have only 1 tab, but CopyQ right from the startup uses 262MB for me. It's probably that much as I have stretched CopyQ to keep as much history as possible, aka shove as many nines into the configs as possible 🤣

Mem usage on startup 262MB
After a week: 350MB