macOS 27 to be the last version to support Rosetta 2

[infinitepower18]

This app is still Intel only, and Apple plans to phase out Rosetta 2 after macOS 27:

macOS Tahoe will be the last release for Intel-based Mac computers. Those systems will continue to receive security updates for 3 years.

Rosetta was designed to make the transition to Apple silicon easier, and we plan to make it available for the next two major macOS releases – through macOS 27 – as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps. Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks.

Source

Will this app ever be updated to be Apple Silicon native?

[kg4zow]

I think you're asking too much, your question should just be ...

Will this app ever be updated?

FWIW I've switched to Obsidian, for several reasons - one of which is that it's actively maintained.

[Daniil-Gusev]

@infinitepower18
This app is pretty easy to build into a native apple silicon app, I was able to do it on Mac OS X 15.5 and Xcode 16.4. If anyone is interested, I'll provide instructions on how to do it.

[kg4zow]

@infinitepower18
This app is pretty easy to build into a native apple silicon app, I was able to do it on Mac OS X 15.5 and Xcode 16.4. If anyone is interested, I'll provide instructions on how to do it.

YES PLEASE.

[Daniil-Gusev]

@kg4zow

Requirements

• Homebrew package manager
• Xcode Command Line Tools

1. Set Up the Environment

Install and configure the required dependencies:

brew install git xcodes rbenv
xcodes install 16.4
xcodes select 16.4
eval "$(rbenv init -)"
rbenv install 2.6.10
rbenv global 2.6.10
gem install cocoapods

2. Install Dependencies for MacDown

Clone the repository and prepare the necessary dependencies for building MacDown:

git clone --recurse-submodule https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown
cd macdown
bundle install
bundle exec pod install
make -C Dependency/peg-markdown-highlight -j$(nproc)

3. Build the Application

Open Xcode:

open MacDown.xcworkspace

Build MacDown by pressing Cmd+B. Then, in the Xcode menu, navigate to Product and select Show Build Folder in Finder. The application will be located in the opened folder at the path Products/Debug.

[tinyapps]

Thanks so much for sharing that guide, @Daniil-Gusev. I encountered a few issues along the way on a clean macOS 15.6 install with just brew and Xcode 16.4 added beforehand; reproducing the errors and their resolutions here for anyone else who stumbles on them:

Error 1

% gem install cocoapods
ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::FilePermissionError)
    You don't have write permissions for the /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0 directory.

Resolved by running export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH" before eval "$(rbenv init -)".

Error 2

% gem install cocoapods
ERROR:  Error installing cocoapods:
	The last version of securerandom (>= 0.3) to support your Ruby & RubyGems was 0.3.2. Try installing it with `gem install securerandom -v 0.3.2` and then running the current command again
	securerandom requires Ruby version >= 3.1.0. The current ruby version is 2.6.10.210.

Resolved by running:

% rbenv install 3.2.2
% rbenv global 3.2.2
% gem install cocoapods

Error 3

% bundle install
Bundler 2.4.10 is running, but your lockfile was generated with 1.17.3. Installing Bundler 1.17.3 and restarting using that version.
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.
Fetching bundler 1.17.3
Installing bundler 1.17.3
/Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.2.2/lib/ruby/gems/3.2.0/gems/bundler-1.17.3/lib/bundler/shared_helpers.rb:272:in `search_up': undefined method `untaint' for "/Users/u/macdown":String (NoMethodError)
...

Resolved by deleting the lock file:

% rm Gemfile.lock
% bundle install

Error 4

% bundle exec pod install
bundler: failed to load command: pod (/Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.2.2/bin/pod)
/Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.2.2/lib/ruby/gems/3.2.0/gems/activesupport-7.0.8.7/lib/active_support/logger_thread_safe_level.rb:12:in `<module:LoggerThreadSafeLevel>': uninitialized constant ActiveSupport::LoggerThreadSafeLevel::Logger (NameError)

    Logger::Severity.constants.each do |severity|
          ^^^^^^^^^^
	from /Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.2.2/lib/ruby/gems/
...

Resolved by:

rbenv install 3.1.4
rbenv global 3.1.4
rbenv rehash
gem install cocoapods
bundle install

Error 5

% bundle exec pod install
bundler: failed to load command: pod (/Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.1.4/bin/pod)
/Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.1.4/lib/ruby/gems/3.1.0/gems/json_pure-2.6.3/lib/json/ext.rb:8:in `require': uninitialized constant JSON::Fragment (NameError)

    require 'json/ext/generator'
    ^^^^^^^
	from /Users/u/.rbenv/versions/3.1.4/lib/ruby/gems/
...

Resolved by:

% gem uninstall json_pure
% rm Gemfile.lock
% bundle install
% bundle exec pod install
% make -C Dependency/peg-markdown-highlight -j$(nproc)
% open MacDown.xcworkspace

After that, version 0.8.0d32 (1111) built successfully - thank you!

Cobbled together a script, built on your example, with a couple of minor differences:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

echo "Installing dependencies..."
brew install ruby@3.2

# Add Ruby and gem binaries to PATH (avoids duplicate lines in ~/.zshrc)
echo "Configuring Ruby path..."
LINE='export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby@3.2/bin:/opt/homebrew/lib/ruby/gems/3.2.0/bin:$PATH"'
grep -Fxq "$LINE" ~/.zshrc || echo "$LINE" >> ~/.zshrc
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby@3.2/bin:/opt/homebrew/lib/ruby/gems/3.2.0/bin:$PATH"

# Uninstall any outdated Bundler versions
echo "Cleaning bundler..."
[ -d /opt/homebrew/lib/ruby/gems/3.2.0 ] && gem uninstall -aIx bundler || true

echo "Installing bundler and CocoaPods..."
gem install bundler cocoapods

echo "Cloning MacDown..."
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown
cd macdown

echo "Removing outdated Gemfile.lock..."
rm -f Gemfile.lock

echo "Installing Ruby dependencies..."
bundle install

echo "Installing CocoaPods dependencies..."
ruby -e 'require "logger"; exec "pod", *ARGV' install

echo "Building PEG Markdown parser..."
make -C Dependency/peg-markdown-highlight -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)

echo "Opening Xcode..."
open MacDown.xcworkspace

cat <<EOF

Setup complete.

When Xcode opens, press Cmd+B to build; find MacDown.app via
Product > Show Build Folder in Finder > Products/Debug
EOF

The Preference panes are still a bit wonky, but happily usable.

[Daniil-Gusev]

@tinyapps
Hello.
To be honest, I’ve encountered some of the issues you described, but that was before I developed the approach I mentioned. The key problem was that macOS comes with certain Ruby tools preinstalled, such as Bundler, which, as far as I can tell, are mainly intended for internal use. That’s why a clean Ruby installation via rbenv—or, as in your example, directly via Homebrew—allows you to successfully install all dependencies.

I specifically chose rbenv because it lets me install Ruby 2.6, which avoids some annoying compatibility warnings when installing dependencies. That said, your advice is really helpful and will definitely benefit others—you’ve done a great job. Thank you very much!

[tinyapps]

Thanks so much for your reply, @Daniil-Gusev.

The errors I encountered were on a new macOS 15.6 installation while following the steps you kindly shared:

brew install git xcodes rbenv
xcodes install 16.4
xcodes select 16.4
eval "$(rbenv init -)"
rbenv install 2.6.10
rbenv global 2.6.10
gem install cocoapods
git clone --recurse-submodule https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown
cd macdown
bundle install
bundle exec pod install
make -C Dependency/peg-markdown-highlight -j$(nproc)
open MacDown.xcworkspace

Do you get different results on a fresh system? I tried a number of times both in virtual machines and on bare metal (where a local APFS snapshot taken after a clean install and adding just brew and Xcode came in handy for testing).

[schuyler]

Hi, all. I’d like to share the pre-release of MacDown 3000, a reboot of the open source Markdown editor we all know and love. We need beta testers. Please download the app, give it a try, and share your feedback!