MacDriver is now DarwinKit!

After a year in preview, v0.5.0 is finally released as DarwinKit. As mentioned in the preview release, this is not only a rename but a major rewrite and expansion on the bindings. We've also started a collection of high-quality examples and starter projects that you can access if you sponsor this project using GitHub Sponsors.

With every release we'll add to this sponsors collection. As a sponsor you not only get priority support but you can suggest additions for us to make to the collection. These aren't just simple code examples, they're actually useful utilities. Many are modeled after our favorite Mac utilities. We hope these are useful, educational, and might convince you to support this open source project as a sponsor.

Getting back to this release, there have been some changes since v0.5.0-preview so here is an updated overview of what's in this release:

• Bindings for 33 frameworks and more are on the way
• Over 2,300 classes with near complete coverage. v0.4.0 we had partial coverage of about 80.
• 23,800 methods/properties and nearly 10,000 constants/enums. We had less than 50 constants before.
• New since the preview release we have 543 structs generated.
• Automatic conversion and use of native Go builtin types in APIs like strings, bools, []byte, maps, etc.
• Support for block arguments as Go functions with properly typed arguments (callbacks!)
• Pre-made delegate implementations you can simply set Go functions on
• More 1-to-1 mapping to Objective-C symbol names while also improving Go idiomaticness
• Documentation for all symbols including a link to official Apple docs on that symbol
• Simple model for working with Objective-C memory management
• As the new name implies, we are set up to support more platforms like iOS, tvOS, watchOS, maybe visionOS
• Continued support for both Intel and Apple Silicon
• Bindings are nearly all generated

There is one regression since v0.5.0-preview for more recent versions of Go with a linker warning. Unfortunately this is upstream in cgo, but we expect it to be resolved in Go with an upcoming.

Regardless, we're happy to finally be cutting this release. Future releases will not involve such a lengthy preview period. And we're excited about what's to come since we've also verified we can start using purego instead of cgo to improve build speed. We'll be using it in the focus of our next release: function bindings.

Contribution Highlights

• Add helper package to ease use of Cocoa API with Go by @programmingkidx in #163
• generate: add docs on generation tools and process, and add initmod tool by @progrium in #182
• fix to webkit callback needing string or nil value by @progrium in #189
• Variadic support by @progrium in #190
• macos: add foundation test for array by @progrium in #191
• New variant functions instead of pseudo class methods for init methods by @progrium in #192
• github: build helloworld as part of tests by @progrium in #195
• More frameworks by @progrium in #197
• macos helper updates by @progrium in #198
• macos: add screenlock example by @progrium in #202
• Subclass NSSplitView for subclass macos example by @catilac in #205
• Higher level subclassing API by @progrium in #207
• Adding lat long fields to corelocation.LocationCoordinate2D by @catilac in #208
• generate: add findstruct tool by @progrium in #209
• New symbols, plus fixes by @progrium in #213
• Example of TableView by @corruptmemory in #217
• Fix issues with map type by @programmingkidx in #242
• Fix: FormView setting row spacing infinite loop & layout pin anchor remove cast appkit.LayoutAnchor by @Charliego3 in #229
• Add pointer to pointer support by @programmingkidx in #244
• Fix enumexport and interface param name by @alessiodionisi in #250

New Contributors

• @programmingkidx made their first contribution in #128
• @catilac made their first contribution in #205
• @corruptmemory made their first contribution in #217
• @Charliego3 made their first contribution in #229
• @alessiodionisi made their first contribution in #250

Full Changelog: v0.4.0...v0.5.0

MacDriver is becoming DarwinKit!

I think this might now be the best bindings project in existence for Apple APIs. Possibly even the best way to make small utilities on the Mac. And soon even other Apple devices.

This is a preview release for v0.5.0 which is a major rewrite and expansion on these bindings. This release is incompatible with previous releases, however there is an unmaintained legacy branch and all the previous releases for existing code to use. The API in this release is very close to what a 1.0 release would look like, so there shouldn't be significant changes only additions to what's here now, which includes:

• Over 30 frameworks with nearly complete bindings and more are on the way
• Over 2,000 classes with near complete coverage. Previously we had partial coverage of about 80.
• 22,000 methods/properties and nearly 10,000 constants/enums. We had less than 50 constants before.
• Automatic conversion and use of native Go builtin types in APIs like strings, bools, []byte, maps, etc.
• Support for block arguments as Go functions with properly typed arguments (callbacks!)
• Pre-made delegate implementations you can simply set Go functions on
• More 1-to-1 mapping to Objective-C symbol names while also improving Go idiomaticness
• Documentation for all symbols including a link to official Apple docs on that symbol
• Simple model for working with Objective-C memory management
• As the new name implies, we are set up to support more platforms like iOS, tvOS, watchOS, maybe visionOS
• Continued support for both Intel and Apple Silicon
• No more compile warnings, nearly all previous GitHub issues are resolved
• More examples, better docs, and bindings are nearly all generated

However, in this preview release we have a few things left out that with your help we can get into the final v0.5.0 release:

• We are missing generated bindings for framework functions
• We are currently covering APIs up to macOS 12 (which is most tbh), but we can easily cover up to 14 with help
• Our coverage of structs is incomplete, many are empty placeholders
• Several examples are currently broken

Another way you can help is to let me know what kind of examples you want to see. Drop your requests in Discussions.

This preview release is an official reboot of the project with a new name: DarwinKit. Between now and the final release, the repository will remain macdriver while everything else updates to DarwinKit, and when we release v0.5.0 we'll rename the repository as well.

A huge thanks to @mkrautz for his work 10 years ago that I found and started this project on in 2020. Unfortunately most of his code is now gone, replaced by the more recent great work by @hsiafan. The previous code generation was by @mgood, which has also been majorly upgraded. Also thanks to @tmc and @programmingkidx for engaging more recently and motivating me to do this rewrite. But also thanks to all the previous contributors that helped get to this point.

Adds additional API coverage.

This release is in preparation for the next release which will be more go-idiomatic in terms of naming, but will break existing APIs with slight method name changes.

API Additions

• cocoa.NSWorkspace added (@tmc)
• cocoa.NSRunningApplication added (@tmc)
• cocoa.NSUserDefaults added (@tmc)
• cocoa.NSTextField added (@tmc)

Docs & Examples

• Crash Course in Macdriver added (@programmingkidx)
• added userdefaults example (@tmc)
• added workspaceutils example (@tmc)

Full Changelog: v0.3.0...v0.4.0

This release has a few minor additions to bindings and APIs, but is mostly about arm64 support.

Platform Additions

• basic arm64 support added (@mkrautz, @tmc)
  • See #100 for more info

API Additions

• cocoa.NSSound added (@yummyweb)
• cocoa.NSEvent_LocalMonitorMatchingMask added (@Bob620)

Docs & Examples

• fix early exit on Monterey in pomodoro example (@mgood)
• added subclass example (@progrium)

Bug Fixes

• fixed reentry issue (#104) in newer versions of macOS (@progrium)

New Contributors

• @mkrautz made their first contribution in #100
• @Bob620 made their first contribution in #92
• @yummyweb made their first contribution in #82

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.3.0

API Additions

This release introduces generated bindings to greatly expand the methods defined on the current types, as well as adding a number of new types.
See: #56

• core.NSAttributedString added (@mvrilo)
• objc.Autorelease added to wrap functions with an autoreleasepool (@mgood)
• core.NSNib got NSNib_InitWithNibNamed_Bundle, NSNib_InitWithNibData_Bundle, InstantiateWithOwner_TopLevelObjects (@firelizzard18)
• cocoa.NSControl added (@fserb)
• cocoa.NSPopover added (@fserb)

API Removals

• core.NSAutoreleasePool replaced by objc.Autorelease
• remove code for 386 architecture (@firelizzard18)

Docs & Examples

• comments on discovering enum values moved to wiki (@flexzuu)
• fix a few typos and rewording (@bradfitz)
• fix top frame example (@revilon1991)
• OpenGL example (@firelizzard18)

Optimizations

• optimize sendMsg and selector lookups (@firelizzard18)
• fix memory leaks with C.CString (@mgood)

New Contributors

• @mvrilo made their first contribution in #43
• @bradfitz made their first contribution in #45
• @firelizzard18 made their first contribution in #60
• @revilon1991 made their first contribution in #65
• @mgood made their first contribution in #56
• @fserb made their first contribution in #74

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.2.0

API Additions

• core.NSData got Length, Bytes (@flexzuu)
• core.NSArray got NSArray_WithObjects, Count, ObjectAtIndex, Strings (@flexzuu)
• cocoa.NSPasteboard added with SetStringForType, StringForType, DataForType, Types, AvailableTypeFromArray (@flexzuu)
• cocoa.NSWindow got SetHasShadow, HasShadow, OrderOut, OrderFront, OrderBack
• cocoa.NSTextView got SetTextColor (@tmc)
• cocoa.NSScreen got NSScreen_Screens (@tmc)

API Removals

• Removed exported class reference variables (NSApplication_, NSMenu_, NSWindow_, etc)

Package Removals

• Removed misc/bundle package
• Removed bridge package and bridgehost example (moved to new repo)

This is a release candidate of sorts for v0.1.0, which will include a full changelog of changes since first release. Most notably, "bridge" and "schema" work have been split out into separate projects.