Apple2BuildPipeline

A build pipeline for making Apple II software on OS X.

Features:

This project was built based on the one created by Quinn Dunki but it has been expanded to add the following features:

• Attempts to hide all of the infrastructure which you don't need to modify in a make directory.
• Supports linking together multiple C and assembly files. To add a new file to the project, just create a new *.c or *.s file in the project directory.
• If you change a header file, the right source files will rebuild automatically. Header file dependencies are generated during the build.
• Supports all cc65 Apple configurations. So, if you want to target enhanced Apple IIe's running DOS 3.3, knock yourself out. Just set the configuration you want in the Makefile and the build will do the right thing to create a disk image for that configuration.
• On Mac OS X, Virtual II will start when you build and the emulator with execute your program. This works for all supported cc65 Apple configurations. Also, it uses a machine configuration which is stored in the make directory in your project. That way, you can modify the machine configuration to be exactly the config you want to test under.
• The Mac OS X deliverable is now an installer which will create an Xcode project template. So, to start a new Apple II project in Xcode, select File->New->Project. Among the iOS and OS X project templates, you will find the "Apple II Asm Project" and "Apple II C Project" options. Select either and you will have a new Apple II project ready to go.

In June 2018, I have shipped v2.0 of the Xcode project templates. Among the new features are:

• Code completion works now in Xcode. You can even complete functions from the cc65 standard library and jump to those function definitions in the headers.
• Syntax colouring for ca65 assembly files is now supported.
• Build errors from the compiler, assembler or linker will be displayed inline in your source code next to the problematic line.
• Upgraded to the latest versions of ProDOS and AppleCommander.
• In previous versions there was no distinction between builing the project and running the project. Both would launch your code in the emulator. Now, you can do a build without launching the project in an emulator or select run and the emulator will be launched.
• You can easily add drivers from the cc65 project by uncommenting a single line in the template Makefile. Drivers for lores graphics, hires graphics, aux memory, joysticks, mouse and serial devices are supported.
• The Makefile template provides a gen phase which executes before all compiles. If you want to generate code or other data files in your project, this is now supported.
• You can specify one or more directories in your project which contain files you want to copy to the disk image at the end of the build. So, if you have files beyond the executable itself which need to be on the disk image, you can use this feature to do so.

In July 2018, I shipped v2.1 with these features:

• You can now create Applesoft BASIC projects. Type your BASIC code into Xcode and when you build and run, it will execute under ProDOS or DOS 3.3.
• Xcode knows the Applesoft keywords and provide completion and basic syntax highlighting.

Mac OS X Installation:

In order to use this infrastructure from Mac OS X, follow these instructions:

1. Install Xcode from Apple. Xcode is generally the most popular app in the Mac App Store in the "Developer Tools" category. Xcode is free and you do not need to be a registered Apple developer to download and use it, especially if you are building Apple II programs. I have only tested with Xcode 6 which is the latest version. It appears as though project templates are a feature introduced in Xcode 4 so the Apple II project template may work with Xcode 4 or 5 but I have not tested them.
2. Install the cc65 v2.13.3 package.
3. Install the Apple II project template.
4. Install and setup Virtual II.

Your First Project:

Everything you need is now installed. To create a new Apple II project in Xcode:

1. Start Xcode and create a new project by using File->New->Project...
2. In the dialog, you will see an "Apple II" option below the Cross-platform section. Select that and select "Apple II C Project" for a basic C-based project. Or select "Apple II Asm Project" for a basic assembly project. Click "Next".
3. A dialog box with a few text fields will appear. In product name, put in the name of the Apple II executable you want to build. Organization Name and Organization Identifier can be anything you want it to be. Leave Build Tool set to "/usr/bin/make". Click "Next".
4. Xcode now prompts you where you want to save your project. The name of the project will be the product name you already gave. Pick a good directory for your project. Your Documents foler is a reasonable option. Click "Create".
5. Your project is now ready for you. If you select Product->Build, it will build your code. If you select Product->Run, it will build and execute the template code in Virtual II. On your first build, you may be prompted by Mac OS X to install a Java runtime. Java is required so if you get this prompt, you should install it. Once Java is installed, go back to Xcode and select Product->Clean and then Product->Run. Virtual II should launch this time.
6. At this point everything should work and you should see "HELLO, WORLD!" in the emulator. Press any key in the emulator to quit the executable and go back to the BASIC prompt.
7. Review the Makefile and set any options you want. The file has lots of comments to help you understand the configuration options.
8. Change main.c (or main.s if you created an assembly project) and write more code in new C or assembly files until you have the program you always wanted to build. To add new files, select File->New->File. In the dialog, you will see an Apple II section in the OS X tab. In there, you will see options to create a new C file or a new Assembly File. Select the one you want to add the file to your project. Put the new file in the same directory as Makefile. You can add assembly files in a C project or add C files in an assembly project. The only difference between them is the type of the default source file in the project template.

Common Problems:

There are some known issues which can crop up:

• If you aren't seeing the "ca65 Assembly" option under Editor->Syntax Coloring, you may be having an Xcode compatibility problem. These syntax colouring files are provided as part of an Xcode plugin and plugins must advertize their compatibility. During install, the plugin is set to be compatible with the version of Xcode you have. If you upgrade Xcode, the plugin will be assumed to be incompatible and will not be loaded. To workaround this, we force the plugin to be marked as compatible on every build of a Apple II target. So, you should do a build and then quit and re-launch Xcode. You should see a warning asking if you want to load the plugin and if you allow the plugin to load, you should see the ca65 syntax colouring option.
• If you see permissions problems when you do a build, chances are good that the permissions on the Xcode plugin directory is wrong. The best way to fix this is to run "sudo chmod -R a+rwx ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Plug-ins". You will need to provide a password when you run this command. I am unsure why some people seem to have bad permissions on this directory and I cannot reproduce the problem, even with a clean install of MacOS. If you have any information on why this is happening, please let me know. Thanks.

If these suggestions do not help or you are having some other problem, please contact me and I will try to help you out.

UNIX Installation:

This build infrastructure can be used in a non-Mac environment. You need cc65 2.13.3 from ftp://ftp.musoftware.de/pub/uz/cc65/cc65-sources-2.13.3.tar.bz2 and then these commands should work to build the sources:

$ tar xvjf cc65-sources-2.13.3.tar.bz2
$ cd cc65-2.13.3
$ make -f make/gcc.mak
$ sudo make -f make/gcc.mak install

Once that is done, you can edit the Makefile from the Apple II build pipeline and add new source files as described above. Be sure to set PGM to the name of your executable in the Makefile. When you build the project in a non-Mac environment, you should end up with a .dsk file but it will not try to execute that like it would on a Mac. In theory, other emulators on the Mac or on other host systems could be added to the build infrastructure and feel free to add support for your favourite.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Quinn Dunki and Carrington Vanston who were instrumental in getting this working. Carrington's presentation at KansasFest 2014 is where the basic concepts of a better Apple II build environment were demonstrated. Quinn built on that and included support for automatically starting the program in Virtual II using Applescript. Without their work, I wouldn't have been able to create this. Thanks!