Some languages have the tooling and options to make cross-compiling much less painful. Rust, as an illustration, gives cross-compiling as semi-native performance in its toolchain. However you’ll nonetheless want to herald some extra bits to finish the expertise—for instance, a correct linker.
One huge drawback with cross-platform compiling is how asymmetrical it may be. When you’re a macOS person, it’s straightforward to arrange and keep Home windows or Linux digital machines on the Mac. When you use Linux or Home windows, it’s tougher to emulate macOS on these platforms. Not inconceivable, simply harder—the largest purpose being the authorized points, as macOS’s EULA doesn’t permit it for use on non-Apple {hardware}. The simplest workaround (although hardly the most affordable) is to easily purchase a separate Macintosh system and use that. An alternative choice is to make use of instruments like osxcross to carry out cross-compilation on a Linux, FreeBSD, or OpenBSD system.
One other widespread choice, one most consistent with fashionable software program supply strategies, is to make use of a system like GitHub Actions (through GitHub-hosted runners) or Azure Pipelines to construct your software program on any of their supported goal platforms. (Each GitHub and Azure help macOS.) The draw back is paying for using the service, however in case you’re already invested in both platform, it’s typically probably the most economical and least messy method. Plus, it retains the burden of system upkeep out of your palms.
