Rosetta? Xcode really seems to want it.

[jamesjuett]

When I first opened Xcode on an M1 Mac, I was prompted to install Rosetta. The prompt also occurs every time Xcode launches (i.e. if you do a proper quit, then start the application again).

Should we say something about this in the tutorial? I don't think it matters either way. Students don't need it, but it won't hurt anything to install it (AFAIK). And the prompt on every Xcode launch gets pretty annoying (and I haven't found a way to get rid of it).

I saw one student earlier this term who had their terminal set to open with Rosetta and it gave x86_64 for uname -m, which was causing homebrew to try to install itself in the wrong place. But, I tried installing Rosetta on my M1 and it doesn't automatically make that change or anything, so I assume it was a fluke.

[awdeorio]

Any update on this @jamesjuett ? Do we need to include something ASAP for EECS 280 W23?

[jamesjuett]

As far as I know this doesn't cause widespread issues. For the one student I saw, I don't know how they got their terminal configured that way. I suppose we could add a "pitfall" somewhere (e.g. if installing homebrew doesn't work) that they can try the uname -m and then if it doesn't work to reconfigure terminal to not run in Rosetta.

But, unless we see a number of students with problems related to this, I'd be fine just closing this issue without any specific action needed. (I'll let you make the call.)

[awdeorio]

I'm a little confused now about whether this is a possible problem with the CLI tools install or the Xcode install.

At this point, I'm thinking maybe it would be reasonable to narrow down the pitfall and add an FAQ or common problem.

[jamesjuett]

I get the popups about installing Rosetta every time I open Xcode. I'm not sure if this happens for everyone, or is just something specific to my macbook. Installing it doesn't hurt anything, as long as students don't e.g. launch their terminal application in Rosetta.

[awdeorio]

Can you screenshot the problem about opening the terminal in rosetta? I'm thinking about a pitfall here

[jamesjuett]

I'm not sure the terminal is visually different, but you can run uname -m. Normally on apple silicon that will give arm64. If you've got the terminal configured to run in Rosetta, you get x86_64.

Here's a screenshot of the configuration. "Applications > Utilities > Terminal (right click) > Get Info"