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M4 Macs can't virtualise older macOS

(eclecticlight.co)
176 points Brajeshwar | 5 comments | 16 Nov 24 16:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.278s | source
1. wickedOne ◴[16 Nov 24 17:03 UTC] No.42157436[source]▶
official support for any macos version < ventura has been dropped (monterey support ended 2024-09-16)

so i wonder whether apple will consider this a bug...

replies(1): >>42158817 #
2. staticfish ◴[16 Nov 24 20:01 UTC] No.42158817[source]▶
Seems like a bug if it only affects certain processor cores.
replies(2): >>42159026 #>>42159498 #
3. wickedOne ◴[16 Nov 24 20:27 UTC] No.42159026[source]▶
i guess there will be always a previous processor supporting something which the most recent doesn't.

but when the bug report is regarding supporting a software version which they don't support themselves anymore, personally i don't think they will give it any priority

4. bbatsell ◴[16 Nov 24 21:25 UTC] No.42159498[source]▶
They added custom instructions to Apple silicon to more easily emulate x86 behavior (e.g., https://developer.apple.com/documentation/virtualization/acc...). They may have now removed them because their analytics say that Rosetta2 use on new devices is minimal.
replies(1): >>42160018 #
5. wtallis ◴[16 Nov 24 22:38 UTC] No.42160018{3}[source]▶
Virtualizing older macOS on M4 hardware has nothing to do with Rosetta 2. And it would be ridiculous for Apple to remove hardware features that Rosetta 2 relies upon before they're actually ready to retire Rosetta 2—that would force Apple to invest more software engineering effort in updating Rosetta 2 to work without those features.