FOSDEM 2021
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Zig Programming Language
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Mach-O linker in Zig: linking in the era of Apple Silicon

Mach-O linker in Zig: linking in the era of Apple Silicon

Track: Zig Programming Language devroom
Room: D.zig
Day: Saturday
Start: 15:45
End: 17:00
Video with Q&A: D.zig
Video only: D.zig
Chat: Join the conversation!

One of Zig's main goals is seamless cross-compilation from any target to any target. This includes macOS and Apple's recent switch from x64 to ARM64 architecture with the introduction of the M1 SoC. This talk will delve deep into the internals of Mach-O linking in ZIg for both x64 and ARM64 targets, discussing new strict requirements the ARM64-version of the XNU kernel places on the binaries such as embedded code signature and inode caching, and how Zig mustered up to address and solve them for fantastic developer experience on macOS.

I hope for this talk to deliver on two fronts: 1) to showcase and convince the audience that Zig takes cross-compilation very seriously and is a language worth learning, and 2) demistify Mach-O linking in general. Yet another great strength of Zig is that it is a very readable language, therefore, even though the code examples will be in Zig, it will not hinder anyone's ability to enjoy figuring out the finer points of Mach-O linking on ARM64 aka the Apple Silicon which are language-agnostic. Finally, there naturally will be coding examples interleaved here and there to demonstrate the different linking concepts that the talk will touch upon.