Cannot remote build with Paired Mac

[pcullen1]

Type of issue

Code doesn't work

Description

I'm following the instructions here: Getting Started with NLI feedback here]. When I issue the dotnet build command at \Maui.NativeLibraryInterop\template\macios\NewBinding.MaciOS.Binding, building the dll succeeds but I'm getting the following warning:

Build succeeded with 1 warning(s) in 2.0s
PS C:\Users\pcullen\Source\Repos\Maui.NativeLibraryInterop\template\macios\NewBinding.MaciOS.Binding> dotnet build
Restore complete (0.6s)
NewBinding.MaciOS.Binding net9.0-maccatalyst succeeded with 1 warning(s) (0.7s) → bin\Debug\net9.0-maccatalyst\NewBinding.MaciOS.Binding.dll
C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.MacCatalyst.Sdk.net9.0_18.1\18.1.9163\tools\msbuild\iOS\Xamarin.Shared.targets(1817,3): warning : It's currently not supported to build a binding project from Windows unless a connection to a Mac is available.
NewBinding.MaciOS.Binding net9.0-ios succeeded (0.8s) → bin\Debug\net9.0-ios\NewBinding.MaciOS.Binding.dll

But I am definitely paired to my Mac and it has Mono installed. Visual Studio is telling me I'm paired. I tried turning off wifi and just used an ethernet connection but that didn't matter.

I'm using Visual Studio 17.12.4. On the mac, the macos is Sequoia 15.3. All users have permission to remote. The latest version of Mono 6.12.0.200 is installed.

Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/communitytoolkit/maui/native-library-interop/get-started

Content source URL

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/CommunityToolkit/blob/main/docs/maui/native-library-interop/get-started.md

Document Version Independent Id

f4a339f5-5d24-27c9-45da-0fe287f19392

Article author

@rachelkang

Metadata

• ID: f4a339f5-5d24-27c9-45da-0fe287f19392
• Service: dotnet-communitytoolkit
• Sub-service: dotnet-maui-community-toolkit

[pcullen1]

@rachelkang @jamesmontemagno Can you comment on this? Is there a documented alternative to remotely accessing a mac to build all the binding dependencies on the Windows machine? Or am I supposed to fall back on using LibraryImport (formerly DLL Import) ?

[rachelkang]

Hi @pcullen1 - thank you for bringing this to our attention. It seems like there's an open issue regarding this which you can track here: dotnet/macios#16611

There, you'll also find a workaround someone shared - I recommend seeing if it works for you: dotnet/macios#16611 (comment)

[pcullen1]

Hi @pcullen1 - thank you for bringing this to our attention. It seems like there's an open issue regarding this which you can track here: xamarin/xamarin-macios#16611

There, you'll also find a workaround someone shared - I recommend seeing if it works for you: xamarin/xamarin-macios#16611 (comment)

@rachelkang Thank you. By following this workaround, I was able to get further. Noteably, by building the binding project on a mac in vs code, I am now seeing a correct fleshed out .NET assembly with the public method exposed, whereas before it was empty when building it on my Windows machine. I then ran into a new issue that I mentioned in my reply to the author of the workaround. But, the author and I both found my issue around the same time and now it builds. And the fix subsequently is to make sure all target net framework lists are aligned on both the binding and the consuming .NET projects.

Now that I see what works and what does not, it looks like his workaround is the only way to currently build a binding project for maciOS ! Can you consider updating the instructions in the sample to reflect his workaround, or is a fix in progress? Two specific problems are apparent:

1. You cannot remotely build by using a paired Mac - you get the observed warning.
2. The resulting assembly is empty except for the manifest.

Thanks, Peter