Problem building the SDK examples on macOS

spedler

I've tried for the first time to build the SDK C++ examples on MacOS and have run into a problem. I'm using a new Mac mini with Sequoia 15.4.1, Xcode 16.3, CMake 4.02 and Python 3.13. I've followed the procedure in the SDK docs and everything appears fine until I try to build the examples, when it fails with this error in interfacebase.h:

/Users/steve/Documents/C4DPlugins/C4D_2025/frameworks/core.framework/source/maxon/interfacebase.h:638:73 A template argument list is expected after a name prefixed by the template keyword

I have no idea what to do about that. The examples build fine on Windows but (as usual) Xcode throws up some sort of problem. Could I have done something wrong or is this an issue in the SDK code?

Thanks,
Steve

ferdinand

Hey @spedler,

I think you are encountering this here:

Dear Developers,

Fritz made me aware of an issue regarding Visual 2022, Clang CL, and our Cinema 4D API, resulting in build errors when updating to the lastest version of Visual Studio 2022: 17.13.3 (3.13.2069.59209).

For the SDK, this only seems to result in -Wmissing-template-arg-list-after-template-kw warnings elevated to errors. Which would be fixable by suppressing the warning so that it is not elevated to an error later on (in a projectdefintion.txt via DisableSpecificWarnings.Win64). In the unfixed form it will effectively halt builds. I would however rather recommend to not to upgrade for now, and wait for a fix from us; which very likely will only be provided for -redacted-.

To recap: This only applies to Visual Studio 2022 Clang CL build systems and not to Visual Studio 2022 MSVC build systems. This is therefore restricted to the CMake SDK, as the Project Tool cannot generate VS Clang build systems.

I.e., this is an issue of clang getting stricter in recent releases, which I before only posted on our internal forums. This now seems also to affect some new Xcode versions (I am right now on 15.3 where it builds fine). Internally we have fixed this for quite some time now and the next public SDK will contain that fix. We only discovered this very shortly before the release of 2025.2.0 and decided not to fix it there but in the next release.

The options for now are:

Temporarily downgrade to an older Xcode version. I think when I recorded the 2025.2.0 stuff for macOS I was using 16.2, but with 15.3 you should be safe for sure. With the next SDK release you could then upgrade again. See xcodereleases.com for getting older versions of Xcode.

After some quick investigation, you do not seem to be able to prevent this error being elevated from a warning to an error on Clang for Xcode, because as far as I understand it, it is issued here right away as an error. I.e., you cannot do what I suggested in the ticket for Visual Studio.

Cheers,
Ferdinand

spedler

Hi @ferdinand,

Many thanks for this. It shouldn’t be a problem using an older version of Xcode for the time bring. I’ll get version 15.3 and give it another try.

Cheers,
Steve

spedler

Well, for the benefit of anyone else in this position, I finally got it working. There was another problem in that Xcode 15.3 won't install on macOS Sequoia; you can apparently make it run with a small hack, but in the end it was easier to uninstall Xcode 16.3 and install 16.2 instead. Then it works fine and builds the SDK without incident.

On a side note: why do Apple make life so ^&%&^$^^(* difficult for developers?

Thanks again Ferdinand,
Steve

ferdinand

Hey @spedler,

short answer: They enjoy the suffering But for me Visual Studio just failed spectacularly after an hours long incremental build with a pure garbage binary. So the gras is not greener here

Cheers,
Ferdinand

PS: The pure existence of https://xcodereleases.com/ and given how popular it is, also tells a story

spedler

Ouch. I've never had that happen with VS, but I've had Xcode refuse to build for all sorts of reasons, all of which VS happily ignores. I have to say that building on this Mac mini compared to my old MacBook is a revelation though - so much faster, and the screen is way bigger. That said, I still prefer VS, it just seems easier to use. Xcode really is painful, and as you say, Apple clearly enjoy that.

Yes, that Xcode download site is extremely useful!

Cheers,
Steve

ferdinand

The problem is it did build, it is just when I tried to run the binary, the fireworks began And yes, I also have a new Mac Mini 4, hardware-wise they are such a blessing, so fast, so nice. But I will probably never get really warm with Apple software and Apple key binds. CTRL + Q is how you type an @ on QWERTZ keyboards. Apple for some $%!# reason decided to put there the global key bind to close an app. Don't ask me how often I tried to type an @ on a Mac, just for the app to close on me And do not even get me started on their weird display scaling!

spedler

I actually quite like the Apple keyboard, even if Apple’s idea of a UK keyboard is different to everyone else. For example, shift-2 should produce a “ character but on this Apple kit, it’s the @ symbol. The odd key bindings just make it worse, but it’s a nice keyboard.

But I detest the Apple Magic Mouse, I can’t get used to those ‘gestures’. Give me my Logitech trackball any time. A bit of extra software does make a Mac so much more useful though. Pathfinder is way better than the horrible Finder, and BetterZip is very user-friendly.