> Apple (and I’m pretty sure ARM as well) does not want you writing programs that rely on its proprietary extensions to the ISA.
Well, but at least some people at Apple do. Kind of. They built a mechanism for loading alternate kernels while knowing full well that it would require reverse engineering in order to use. A former engineer said as much. https://twitter.com/XenoKovah/status/1339914716454526979
In a way, Apple has done this for years. Their Mail app contains a third-party plugin API (which dates back to at least Tiger, so it's not some unfinished feature they forgot to remove), but it's completely undocumented. You can't use it unless you reverse engineer it.
Ok, perhaps I should qualify that: they don’t want normal app developers doing this, because those ones want stability. But I believe there are some at Apple that (correctly) see that allowing certain extension points like these is healthy for the overall community. But it’s all under the table…
Well, but at least some people at Apple do. Kind of. They built a mechanism for loading alternate kernels while knowing full well that it would require reverse engineering in order to use. A former engineer said as much. https://twitter.com/XenoKovah/status/1339914716454526979
In a way, Apple has done this for years. Their Mail app contains a third-party plugin API (which dates back to at least Tiger, so it's not some unfinished feature they forgot to remove), but it's completely undocumented. You can't use it unless you reverse engineer it.
I don't quite get it, really.