macOS Xcode 13.2 keeps asking to install Rosetta

[johnalan]

I'm using Xcode version 13.2 (13C90), on macOS Monterey 12.1 (21C52).

I've downloaded Xcode directly from the App Store. I'd rather not install Rosetta on this particular machine, yet each time I launch Xcode I'm greeted the Rosetta install prompt...

Any idea if this is actually needed or just a prompt to ensure Intel builds can be debugged?

 

[prime17569]

Probably because some part of Xcode may still be Intel-only. Xcode is a rather big application, so there still might be some apps/command-line tools within it that have not yet been updated to support Apple Silicon. It might also be so that Xcode can debug Intel builds like you mentioned, but then it wouldn't be asking about installing Rosetta continuously.

Rosetta shouldn't be too much of a problem to install, anyway. AFAIK, all of the system frameworks still have x86_64 slices, so I don't think the Rosetta install would take up much space since it would not be downloading an additional copy of those frameworks (correct me if I am wrong about this).

EDIT: It looks like Rosetta installs about 4.9 GB of dyld cache files into /System/Library/dyld/ (dyld_shared_cache_x86_64 and dyld_shared_cache_x86_64h, 2.45 GB each), so I understand where you're coming from.

 

[johnalan]

Probably because some part of Xcode may still be Intel-only. Xcode is a rather big application, so there still might be some apps/command-line tools within it that have not yet been updated to support Apple Silicon. It might also be so that Xcode can debug Intel builds like you mentioned, but then it wouldn't be asking about installing Rosetta continuously.

Rosetta shouldn't be too much of a problem to install, anyway. AFAIK, all of the system frameworks still have x86_64 slices, so I don't think the Rosetta install would take up much space since it would not be downloading an additional copy of those frameworks (correct me if I am wrong about this).

EDIT: It looks like Rosetta installs about 4.9 GB of dyld cache files into /System/Library/dyld/ (dyld_shared_cache_x86_64 and dyld_shared_cache_x86_64h, 2.45 GB each), so I understand where you're coming from.

Thank you kindly for your insight. You’re the first person across a number of places I tried to discuss this that actually responded with something interesting. Including raising a TSI!

Anyway, my main objection isn’t even the space, though it’s a chunk. It’s really that after Rosetta installs on Monterey (and it wasn’t like this in Big Sur), there is a background Intel process started on boot, and I simply find it unclean.

Eg: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...-way-to-remove-it/432186#comment620295_432186

Whatcha think?

 

[prime17569]

Thank you kindly for your insight. You’re the first person across a number of places I tried to discuss this that actually responded with something interesting. Including raising a TSI!

Anyway, my main objection isn’t even the space, though it’s a chunk. It’s really that after Rosetta installs on Monterey (and it wasn’t like this in Big Sur), there is a background Intel process started on boot, and I simply find it unclean.

Eg: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...-way-to-remove-it/432186#comment620295_432186

Whatcha think?

> You’re the first person across a number of places I tried to discuss this that actually responded with something interesting.

Thanks!

> there is a background Intel process started on boot

CarbonComponentScannerXPC isn't the only Rosetta-related background process started on boot; among other things, oahd* runs in the background as well. Also, a commenter on the post mentioned that it was removed in 12.1, which suggests that it was a bug and that updating to 12.1 may fix the issue.

For further reading, there's a rather interesting article that explains how Rosetta works: https://eclecticlight.co/2021/01/22/running-intel-code-on-your-m1-mac-rosetta-2-and-oah/

* Rosetta 2 calls itself OAH internally, which is probably an acronym for something. Old App Hacks?

 

[johnalan]

> You’re the first person across a number of places I tried to discuss this that actually responded with something interesting.

Thanks!

> there is a background Intel process started on boot

CarbonComponentScannerXPC isn't the only Rosetta-related background process started on boot; among other things, oahd* runs in the background as well. Also, a commenter on the post mentioned that it was removed in 12.1, which suggests that it was a bug and that updating to 12.1 may fix the issue.

For further reading, there's a rather interesting article that explains how Rosetta works: https://eclecticlight.co/2021/01/22/running-intel-code-on-your-m1-mac-rosetta-2-and-oah/

* Rosetta 2 calls itself OAH internally, which is probably an acronym for something. Old App Hacks?

Interesting stuff. You think just install it and get on with it?

 

[loekf]

Xcode 13.2.1 is again a PITA btw. It won't finish its update. Same old story. You reboot to stop the Appstore. Delete. It keeps installing. You remove it in Launcher. It keeps installing. Remove it again and yes it sticks.

Why can't they make Xcode updates, which work ?

 

[Hammie]

Xcode 13.2.1 is again a PITA btw. It won't finish its update. Same old story. You reboot to stop the Appstore. Delete. It keeps installing. You remove it in Launcher. It keeps installing. Remove it again and yes it sticks.

Why can't they make Xcode updates, which work ?

I just uninstalled Xcode via CleanMyMac and it stopped the 'installd' process from hogging all my RAM and CPU.

I don't use it to justify keeping it right now.

 

[excelsior.ink]

I am using Xcode and it runs just fine without Rosetta 2 and my target is not Intel. Anyone knows how to disable this warning at startup?

 

[Bodhitree]

Xcode 13.2.1 is again a PITA btw. It won't finish its update. Same old story. You reboot to stop the Appstore. Delete. It keeps installing. You remove it in Launcher. It keeps installing. Remove it again and yes it sticks.

Why can't they make Xcode updates, which work ?

For me the Xcode 13.2.1 update did finish in the end. It downloaded pretty quickly but took about 3 hours to install on my M1 iMac. The installer ended up running 100% cpu on one core, no idea what it was doing.

 

[prime17569]

Interesting stuff. You think just install it and get on with it?

Yep.

 

[cczhu]

Same issue with Xcode 13.2.1 on MacOS 12.2.1 (21D62).
How can we disable the warning?

 

[mteep]

EDIT: Please ignore this. It seemed to work initially, but didn't. Perhaps having Instruments running was what caused the prompt not to appear when restarting Xcode.

A little late perhaps, but this prompt can easily be disabled. Just use Get Info on Xcode.app, check "Open using Rosetta", and then uncheck it again.

The persistent effects of checking and unchecking that box can be seen by running something like
defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist |grep -A3 Xcode
before and after.

To change this programmatically without needing a reboot, please see https://github.com/tapthaker/SetArchPrefForURL .

 

[haralds]

Xcode 13 and 14 need Rosetta 2 to build Universal apps on Apple Silicon.