Building for macOS

Listing some pitfalls and completing the remaining steps for macOS.

macOS Setup

An common step for macOS / iOS is needed: creating an Xcode project inside of the Rust library project folder (rust/). This can be done using the cargo-xcode command.

I utilize cargo-xcode v1.5.0 to ensure smooth operation. For example, when I employed version v1.9.0, Xcode flagged an issue regarding the absence of a development team for signing (but: I couldn't add a development team because the "Signing & Capabilities" tab is missing for the target rust-cdylib in the Rust Xcode project).

  1. To install the cargo-xcode command use:

    cargo install cargo-xcode@1.5.0

  2. After the installation of the command, create the Rust Xcode project. Make sure to be in the rust/ directory. From the project's root folder you may switch into the right directory:

    cd rust

    cargo xcode

    cd ..

  3. This step is for macOS only because the macOS app uses the dynamic library:

    Open up that rust/rust.xcodeproj file with Xcode and select the root item rust, at the left pane on top. Select the Target rust-cdylib and the Build Settings tab. Here, search for Dynamic Library Install Name Base and change the value into $(TARGET_BUILD_DIR).

Pitfalls and Solutions

  1. Make sure that you are REALLY in the rust/ directory (where Cargo.toml is located) when executing the cargo xcode command.

  1. When macOS cannot locate the dynamic library:

    This might happen due to cargo-xcode version v1.5.0.

    To prevent this, execute the third step of the macOS Setup above (maintain the Dynamic Library Install Name Base). Make sure that you have selected the Target for the dynamic library, called rust-cdylib. It enables an macOS executable to properly locate dynamic *.dylib library files in the package. Do NOT select rust-staticlib !

    To find out the version of cargo-xcode, you can run the command cargo install --list to list all installed Cargo subcommands along with their versions.

    FYI, there is an alternative solution described in the tutorial section macOS Instructions at the bottom.

  1. The error message no healthy node available, or SocketException: Connection failed is encountered when making API calls:

    no healthy node available

    No healthy node available

    macOS applications are sandboxed by default. To avoid a SocketException, you need to add the network.client entitlement to macOS/Runner/DebugProfile.entitlements:

    <key>com.apple.security.network.client</key>
<true/>
    network.client entitlement

    Solution for Sandbox Problem

Completing the macOS App

Generate the Dart Interface

Our next task is to create the generated code. This will also copy the C header file bridge_generated.h into the folder macos/Runner/. Use this command (you need to be in the root of your project):

flutter_rust_bridge_codegen \
--rust-input rust/src/api.rs \
--dart-output ./lib/bridge_generated.dart \
--dart-decl-output ./lib/bridge_definitions.dart \
--c-output macos/Runner/bridge_generated.h

Video

Follow the video for the remaining steps.