[macOS] Support policy changes; Xcode 14 and 16 will be removed from macOS 14 on November 4

[erik-bershel]

Breaking changes

Current support policy:

- all OS compatible versions side-by-side
- for beta, GM versions - latest beta only
- old patch versions are deprecated in 3 months

New support policy:

- only one major version of Xcode will be supported per macOS version
- all minor versions of the supported major version will be available
- beta and RC versions will be provided "as-is" in the latest available macOS image only no matter of beta/GA status of the image
- when a new patch version is released, the previous patch version will be replaced

• What does it means in general terms? Starting from the specified date, all minor versions of Xcode 14 and Xcode 16 will be removed from the macOS-14 image.
• What about other images? These changes will not affect macOS-12 and macOS-13 images. The changes will affect macOS-14 and all subsequent images. As a result, macOS-14-based images will contain only Xcode 15.x versions, macOS-15 images will contain only Xcode 16.x versions, and so on.
• What happens when a new major Xcode beta is released and there is no next revision of the macOS image? Such a beta will be shipped as part of the latest macOS image that supports this Xcode, until the next base macOS image is released, for example: Xcode 16 was shipped as part of macOS-14 until we released macOS-15.

Target date

November 4, 2024

The motivation for the changes

Recently, mainly due to the introduction of the new visionOS platform, macOS-based images have grown to such sizes that they are becoming more difficult to maintain, and users are experiencing difficulties with available disk space, which is critical for completing builds. Parent issue:

• Significantly less available disk space in macos-14-arm64 #10511

Possible impact

Workflows based on macOS-14 will stop running if they depend on Xcode 14 and/or Xcode 16

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 12
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022

Mitigation ways

Users whose workflows depend on Xcode 14 and/or Xcode 16 will be forced to use the macOS-13 image for Xcode-14 and the macOS-15 image for Xcode-16, respectively. Be aware that macos-13 YAML label refer to Intel-based image.

[Cheesebaron]

This is a bit messed up since macos-15 is not available in Azure DevOps Pipelines. Will they be available in time for this change?

[LotskiAndrej]

This is a bit messed up since macos-15 is not available in Azure DevOps Pipelines. Will they be available in time for this change?

Can we get a response on this?

[erik-bershel]

Hey @Cheesebaron and @LotskiAndrej!

We are working on adding macOS-15 to ADO, but no ETA or promises are available now. I'll publish info in #10686 once available.

[mjosipovic-tgr]

Is there any way to use Xcode 16 currently using macOS-14 ? I run task for checking Xcode version on ADO and got this, but it says it cannot locate xcode 16
Xcode.app
Xcode_14.3.1.app
Xcode_14.3.app
Xcode_15.0.1.app
Xcode_15.0.app
Xcode_15.1.0.app
Xcode_15.1.app
Xcode_15.2.0.app
Xcode_15.2.app
Xcode_15.3.0.app
Xcode_15.3.app
Xcode_15.4.0.app
Xcode_15.4.app
Xcode_16.0.0.app
Xcode_16.0.app
Xcode_16.1.0.app
Xcode_16.1.app
Xcode_16.1_beta_2.app
Xcode_16.app

[erik-bershel]

Is there any way to use Xcode 16 currently using macOS-14 ?

Yes, we have not removed Xcode 16 from macOS-14. It will be done on October 28.

I run task for checking Xcode version on ADO and got this, but it says it cannot locate xcode 16

Recommended task: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/ecosystems/xcode?view=azure-devops

[mjosipovic-tgr]

Thanks for the response, but since I'm using MAUI, I cannot add xcWorkspacePath, and ADO crashes if I don't enter anything.
I tried like this also

- task: Bash@3
  displayName: 'Set Xcode Version to 16'
  inputs:
    targetType: 'inline'
    script: |
      sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_16.0.app/Contents/Developer

But it cannot locate the file

[randyburden]

@mjosipovic-tgr, I am currently using the same command line command you are using with macOS-14 to set it to use Xcode 16 and it works fine.

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_16.app/Contents/Developer

I'm using the classic pipeline editor:

[mjosipovic-tgr]

I tried it few times, changed the order of the tasks in yaml, and managed to get it to work, tnx for the responses.

[woutermeuwis]

XCode 16 still does not seem available in the macOS-14 image?
When will this be available again?

ILLINK : warning MT0079: The recommended Xcode version for Microsoft.iOS 18.0.8314 is Xcode 16.0 or later. The current Xcode version (found in /Applications/Xcode_15.4.app/Contents/Developer) is 15.4. [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/RmoniWeb.Maui/RmoniWeb.Maui.csproj::TargetFramework=net8.0-ios]

[erik-bershel]

@woutermeuwis please switch to Xcode 16 before running your workflow. Issue states that the current Xcode version is set to 15.4, but it does not mean that there is no Xcode 16 at all.
Example action: https://github.com/maxim-lobanov/setup-xcode

[erik-bershel]

👋

For those tracking these changes or encountering issues for the first time, here’s some context and clarification.

As you may know, we recently faced significant challenges where many users began running out of disk space during tests and builds on macOS-based runners. 😞 This issue was triggered by the inclusion of visionOS simulators in the latest Xcode builds. The root cause, however, lies in our policy of providing nearly all supported minor versions of Xcode on each macOS image, leading to steadily increasing disk usage as Apple’s ecosystem grows.

Here’s how we’ve approached resolving the issue so far:

• Immediate action: We temporarily stopped pre-installing visionOS platform tools in Xcode on macOS-14 images.
• Strategic adjustment: We introduced a policy to limit the number of major Xcode versions installed per macOS image, alongside reinstating visionOS tools for supported Xcode versions. This aimed to free up significant disk space. [doc] Update Xcode support policy #10876

However, we’ve discovered that some projects rely on multiple major versions of Xcode simultaneously, making these strict measures overly restrictive. This prompted us to refine our strategy, prioritising functionality alongside disk space optimisation.

Current Strategy 📏

Our updated approach balances reducing installed Xcode versions with maintaining runner usability:

1. macOS-14 images:

• Will include all minor releases of Xcode 15 with the full platform tools suite (as before).
• Will now also include two minor releases of Xcode 16 (excluding visionOS tools). These will follow a “last two” principle, with the oldest replaced by the newest as updates are released. Beta versions will not be included. [macOS] Add Xcode16 back to macOS14 images #10962

2. macOS-15 images:

• Will include all minor releases of Xcode 16 with the full platform tools suite (as before).
• Will also include the latest available release of Xcode 15 with the full platform tools suite. [macOS] Add Xcode 15.4 to macOS-15 #11023

3. Disk Space and Future Adjustments:

• Currently, macOS-14 images have approximately 60 GB of free space. However, this is not a guaranteed figure and may decrease over time.
• When free space approaches 30 GB, we will reassess our policies and toolsets to ensure compliance with our promised minimum of 14 GB of free space.
• macOS-15 images are not currently impacted by this issue. However, with future Xcode updates, policies may need to be revisited. 🤷‍♂️

Recommendations 🦮

• If your workflows depend on visionOS, we recommend switching to macOS-15 images.
• If your tasks require significant disk space, consider preparing the runner by removing unnecessary large components before starting your workflows.

[mikeknack86]

[amit-thapa]

@erik-bershel is the macos-15 for the ado now stable? I did an Android build which uses Android API level 34 on the macos-15 and got the following error below. This runs fine on the macos-14

error XA5207: Could not find android.jar for API level 34. This means the Android SDK platform for API level 34 is not installed; it was expected to be in

[erik-bershel]

Hey @amit-thapa! macOS-15 is expected to be fine. I think your issue related to the fact that the first available platform on macOS-15 is 35. You need to install it manually or to switch to the next. See the difference here:
macOS-14,
macOS-15.