Gitian Build seems to work: https://bitcoin.jonasschnelli.ch/gitian/build/142
Maybe the ZIP filename could still contain the phrase "macOS" or "osx".

Conceptual, I'm currently ~0 (I commented on the concept before).
I think it is nice to simplify the build system (probably makes it much easier for guix). Though, I'm currently unsure if this slightly worsens the UX for macOS users. If it does, should we reduce the UX to simplify the build-system (is that an acceptable tradeoff)?

However, if there is a difference in user experience between a zip and a dmg, it is probably marginal.

Is there any "official" mac documention or user surveys that suggest which one is the recommended or preferred way?

Concept ACK! Great to see the amount of code we can remove.

(probably makes it much easier for guix).

Just to make myself clear, I am for this change because it is a great simplification for a marginal difference in user experience and not because of anything specific to Guix (my current implementation of the Guix macOS build is already able to build the dmg). ☺️

Concept ACK

You can add a symlink to /Applications to the archive and call it "Drag Here" (so it appears on the right).

With that it's close enough to what macOS users are used to, with a nice reduction in dependencies and complexity.

You could also keep the .DS_Store and .background folder around for full branding and a nicer layout, but that's pretty marginal.

Another nice thing about zip files is that Safari automatically unzips them after download.

The following sections might be updated with supplementary metadata relevant to reviewers and maintainers.

Conflicts

Reviewers, this pull request conflicts with the following ones:

• tests: add a test-security target and run it in CI #18434 (tests: add a test-security target and run it in CI by fanquake)
• depends: Allow building with system clang #17919 (depends: Allow building with system clang by dongcarl)
• build: macOS fix background.svg #17311 (build: macOS fix background.svg by RandyMcMillan)
• gitian-linux: Build binaries for 64-bit POWER #14066 (gitian-linux: Build binaries for 64-bit POWER by luke-jr)

If you consider this pull request important, please also help to review the conflicting pull requests. Ideally, start with the one that should be merged first.

You could also keep the .DS_Store and .background folder around for full branding and a nicer layout, but that's pretty marginal.

"Keeping that around" would mostly defeat the point of these changes.

"Keeping that around" would mostly defeat the point of these changes.

It still gets rid of genisoimage and libdmg-hfsplus, but indeed .DS_Store and .background require a lof of tools themselves. Just the symlink should get us close enough to the original UX.

Pushed a few more removals, updated the descriptors and fixed whitespace.

Is there any "official" mac documention or user surveys that suggest which one is the recommended or preferred way?

The Apple documentation is mainly focused on using Xcode and App Store distribution: https://help.apple.com/xcode/mac/current/#/devac02c5ab8. There is a section on distribution outside the App Store: https://help.apple.com/xcode/mac/current/#/dev033e997ca, however I couldn't quickly find any mention of using .dmgs. There are some instructions on "macOS installer packages" (.pkg): https://help.apple.com/xcode/mac/current/#/deve51ce7c3d.

There seem to be at least some companies that are using a combination of .dmg and .zip for distribution. i.e: Sublime Merge is distributed as a .zip, while Sublime Text is a .dmg.

Just the symlink should get us close enough to the original UX.

I'm not aware of any projects that are using a symlink inside a .zip approach. The Bitcoin Core GUI is mostly designed for power users of bitcoin, and I think the intersection of power users, and people who don't know how to handle a .zip file would be very small.

Also, as far as I'm aware, you can open and use an app bundle from any directory on macOS, and it makes little to no difference to how the app actually runs?

I'm not aware of any projects that are using a symlink inside a .zip approach

That's because most projects use a DMG with a symlink and background image. We have a good reason to avoid that, namely to make deterministic builds easier. Even as an experienced macOS user, I find the symlink useful; it saves me from opening a new Finder window, navigating to Applications and then dragging between two windows. And it's a trivial thing to add.

Also, as far as I'm aware, you can open and use an app bundle from any directory on macOS, and it makes little to no difference to how the app actually runs?

Whenever I deal with applications that don't have an installer or a symlink, I very often make the mistake of running it from the Download folder. That works, until I accidentally clean up the download folder. There's no obvious alternative folder to drag the program to.

When downloading an upgrade there's an additional risk that a user doesn't replace the original version. The first time they might double click on the download and run the new version. Second time they might use command + space and launch the old version.

Can we add the ZIP and remove the DMG in two steps?

IMO it'd be nice to build both for 0.21, but only distribute the ZIP. That way if it causes too much problems/confusion we can just change it back without rebuilds/etc.

I might come back to this in future, but closing for now as I've made some changes to the existing macdeploy process. Any discussion should continue in #18128.