archived_apple

Archived QtAVCore Apple backends

The former QtAVCore macOS and iOS implementation was archived on 2026-08-02. It is preserved for historical reference only and is no longer built, tested, packaged, installed, supported, or maintained.

Active QtAVCore development under modern/ supports Windows, Android, and OHOS targets only. Do not add these directories back to the active CMake graph unless Apple platform support is explicitly revived as a new maintained project decision.

Archived source

• modern/backends/render/metal/: software-frame Metal rendering, borrowed native resources, HDR/EDR output, and display-headroom handling;
• modern/backends/audio/coreaudio/: CoreAudio/AudioQueue device output;
• modern/backends/hwaccel/videotoolbox/: VideoToolbox hardware decode and retained CVPixelBuffer access;
• modern/backends/interop/cvmetal/: zero-copy CVPixelBuffer-to-Metal plane import;
• modern/platform/apple/: the former Apple platform-helper root;
• modern/tests/: the former CoreAudio, Metal, VideoToolbox, CVMetal, and EDR tests;
• modern/examples/coreaudio_console_integration.cpp: the removed console example wiring.

The archived CMake files retain their historical relative paths and target definitions, but this directory is intentionally not a standalone build. The old targets were QtAV::RenderMetal, QtAV::AudioCoreAudio, QtAV::HWVideoToolbox, and QtAV::InteropCVMetal.

Historical API usage is recorded in modern/README.md, the former migration guidance in modern/MIGRATION.md, and the completed milestone in modern/PLAN.md.

Historical behavior

The Metal renderer accepted borrowed MTLDevice and command-queue objects and an application callback returning the current texture, drawable, or CAMetalLayer. Its software path covered planar YUV, NV12/NV21, P010, RGB-family, and Gray8 frames. It supported Fit/Fill/Stretch, viewports, right-angle rotation, SDR output, extended-linear BT.2020 EDR presentation, HDR10/HLG metadata, and live display-headroom adaptation.

The VideoToolbox backend selected FFmpeg's hardware path, exposed retained CVPixelBuffer hardware frames, and allowed explicit software fallback. The CVMetal interop imported limited/full-range NV12 and P010 planes through CVMetalTextureCache and retained them through asynchronous Metal execution without a decoded-source CPU copy.

The CoreAudio sink followed the default output device or an explicit AudioDeviceID, negotiated interleaved Float32 PCM, used a bounded AudioQueue pool, and reported playback clock and latency through the generic AudioSink contract.

Last recorded validation

Before archival, static and shared native builds plus ASan/UBSan passed 29/29 applicable CTest tests on the recorded macOS development host. The Metal renderer also passed an iOS 16 arm64 Objective-C++ syntax build. Install and external CMake consumption of all four Apple targets had passed. These are historical results only; they must not be represented as current support.

Revival requirements

A future revival must restore explicit public hardware-device identifiers and FFmpeg mappings, reconnect the backend and test CMake targets, provide current SDK/toolchain coverage, revalidate lifecycle and HDR behavior on physical macOS/iOS devices, and update the active support policy. The archived code must not be assumed compatible with later QtAVCore API changes.