New Feature: LabVIEW for macOS Supports Apple Silicon

[Christina_R]

LabVIEW 2023 Q3 for macOS runs natively on Apple Silicon (M1/M2) processors instead of relying on Rosetta 2.

LabVIEW for macOS continues to support Intel-based Macs as well. 

Please test the LabVIEW editor as well as built applications. 

Caveats 

• Your existing project build specs can be used to build Apple Silicon native apps and libraries just by building them using LabVIEW on Apple Silicon.  Please note however that Applications and shared libraries built with the LabVIEW App Builder will only target the architecture of the LabVIEW used to build them.  If you build an app using LabVIEW for Application Silicon, it will run only on Apple Silicon; similarly for Intel, except that the app will run under Rosetta 2 emulation on Apple Silicon. 
   
  However, you can build universal apps or shared libraries which will run on both architectures by explicitly building the app for each architecture, then manually copying the AppContents_arm64.llb from Resources folder of the Apple Silicon built app/shared library to the same folder in the Intel version (or vice-versa, copying AppContents_x64.llb from the Intel version to the Apple Silicon version.) 
   
• Because of stricter macOS security policies, applications must be signed before they can be run.  Failure to do so will result in a generic ‘The application “<app name>” cannot be opened’ error message.  You can sign the application using an ad-hoc signature using this command (from Terminal): 
   
     codesign –s - /path/to/MyApplication.app 
   
  If you build a universal app using the method above, it should be signed after these steps, because otherwise copying in the LLB will invalidate the code signature. 

Known Issue(s) 

• Apple Silicon native binaries of NI VISA and NI SysConfig are not available for Beta.  Because NI Example Finder depends on NI SysConfig, it will run under Rosetta 2 even invoked from the Apple Silicon LabVIEW. 
• Bug 2410529 - Control property pages are not working (i.e., they do not appear when invoked). [Reported by user _Chris]  [Fixed in LabVIEW 2023 Q3 release]

[sth]

Why is there not a check box to build a universal fat executable?  Because that would mean different code for window vs. Mac?

Has no one written a Post Processing VI that will optionally make a fat binary and create a signature file?  Should be a fairly simple call to the OS?

However, the native app runs VERY quickly and smoothly on my laptop!  Kudos to the development team!

[ZHOUYHUI]

When is labview2023 q3 expected to be available for download and I need to test the software on my M1 system。

Thank you for your answer

[sth]

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@ZHOUYHUI wrote:

When is labview2023 q3 expected to be available for download and I need to test the software on my M1 system。

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It will be available in the 3rd quarter of 2023.  That will be sometime between 7/1/2023 and 9/30/2023.  This forum is the open beta so you can test it on your system right now by following the directions at the top.

NOTE: there are no drivers for Apple Silicon for DAQ cards, USB DAQ, or GPIB.  AFAIK VISA on the Apple Silicon will only support LXI connections, Serial ports and raw tcp-socket and raw USB connections.

[ZHOUYHUI]

Thank you for your reply. I will conduct the test according to your method. Thank you very much

[Qommand]

Hi,

Have you conducted any test run on LabVIEW for Apple Silicon? Is GPIB supported now?

Thanks,

[sth]

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@Qommand wrote:

Have you conducted any test run on LabVIEW for Apple Silicon? Is GPIB supported now?

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Any test?  Yes.  I have been running LV on Apple Silicon on my laptop and my Mac Studio since the beta was released.  It is VERY fast and works well.

GPIB is not supported and from what I have heard will never be supported on Apple Silicon.  Porting any of the kexts for the devices is too much of an engineering demand.  The best I have heard is for the community to port the USB portion of the open source linux device handlers that use the libusb and do not need a kext.

[Qommand]

Thanks for kind replying.

So, how will GPIB only devices communicate with Apple Silicon? Is there any mitigation?

Best,