[aaf2tbz]

MetalSharp 1.0.0 adds an Arm64 FEX build (VARIANT=fex). It runs games on MetalSharp Wine v4.0, an arm64 Wine 11.20 that runs x86 code through FEX, with no Rosetta. The regular x86_64 build behaves as on main: every FEX behavior sits behind the backend's compile-time variant (MS_BACKEND_VARIANT) or the app's variant (app-gpui/src/variant.rs). The updater moves between the two builds.

What changes on the FEX build

• Runtime: MetalSharp Wine replaces CrossOver/GPTK Wine through a runtime facade. Wine Steam starts directly through MetalSharp Wine's wrapper and is stopped with its wineserver. Setup works offline from MetalSharp Wine's bundled assets and shows each step of preparing a prefix.
• Lanes:
  • Each game's lane goes into <game>/.metalsharp/launch.env. MetalSharp Wine applies that file however the game starts, whether from Steam, a launcher, or its executable.
  • VKD3D-Proton runs most D3D12 games, including the D3DMetal and GPTK lanes.
  • Mullion runs D3D12, D3D11 and D3D10, for x86_64 and 32-bit x86 games, and is the default.
  • DXVK runs the D3D9 route and is a lane of its own for x86_64 games.
  • OpenGL is Wine's Direct3D over WineMetalGL, with the game asked for its OpenGL renderer.
• No D3D DLLs in game folders: MetalSharp Wine's loader routes D3D and DXGI DLLs to the lane's copies by name. Copies next to a game's executable look like an injected proxy to anti-tamper (Dragon's Dogma 2 quit about 40 s in). Copies older versions left are removed.
• Launchers: Epic, GOG, Ubisoft and GameJolt get the same launch.env routing. Epic launches are tracked by process group, because legendary does not wait for the game.
• Settings:
  • Frame rate limits per lane (GET/POST /framerate), a Metal HUD switch, and ray tracing on the VKD3D-Proton lane.
  • Mullion reads MetalFX and frame rate limits from mullion.conf.
  • Caches: Settings shows Mullion, VKD3D-Proton and DXVK caches per lane, with their real size and their own Clear. Games keep these caches in shader-cache/fex-<lane> and pipeline-cache/fex-<lane>, through VKD3D_SHADER_CACHE_PATH, DXVK_STATE_CACHE_PATH and MULLION_SHADER_CACHE_PATH. Mullion's Clear empties MetalSharp's per-game caches, and asks first before also clearing the Metal cache that every Mullion game shares. The caches earlier FEX builds left in game folders (vkd3d-proton.cache, <exe>.dxvk-cache) are removed once, at the game's next launch.
• Welcome: after an x86_64 install (0.80.0 or any regular build) moves to the FEX build, the library shows a three-page welcome once: early access and how to report bugs, the graphics lanes, and Get Into It. It never shows on a fresh FEX install, a FEX update or the regular build.
• Folder access: at the first Wine Steam start, the FEX build asks macOS for access to Documents and to external drives. Both builds' Info.plists explain these requests.

Update paths

Migration takes an explicit path, decided from the running build, the build recorded in setup.json (runtime_variant; missing on 0.80.x means regular) and the version it was migrated at:

• Regular → regular (0.80.x → 1.0.0 and later): the regular build's migration, as on main.
• Regular → FEX (0.80.x or any regular build → FEX): the full migration, converting the Steam, GOG, Ubisoft and bottle prefixes to MetalSharp Wine with an x86_64 backup. This also runs when the FEX DMG is installed by hand, without the updater's marker.
• FEX → FEX (1.0.0 → 1.1.0 and later): a light update. It installs the new MetalSharp Wine and the app's runtime pieces, leaves user data in place, and converts no prefixes.
• FEX → regular: the regular migration, after restoring the prefixes' x86_64 backups. The read-only MetalSharp Wine app is removed with the old runtime.
• Recovery (update.sh --recover) reinstalls the installed build. On FEX that is the FEX DMG with its MetalSharp Wine, at the same version too.
• The backend's startup MetalSharp Wine refresh skips while a migration is pending or running. An install lock keeps it and a migration's install from replacing the app at the same time.

Release and CI

• The version is 1.0.0. The release builds the FEX DMG beside the regular one and pins MetalSharp Wine v4.0 (MetalSharp-Wine-4.0-arm64.zip, checked against SHA256SUMS). If the FEX build fails, the regular release goes out without the FEX DMG instead of being blocked.
• PR CI also builds the FEX backend and runs its suite: make VARIANT=fex test.
• The plan is in docs/arm64-fex-1.0-plan.md.

Testing

• make -C app/src-c and make -C app/src-c VARIANT=fex BUILD_DIR=build-fex both build with -Werror.
• make -C app/src-c test (regular) and make -C app/src-c VARIANT=fex BUILD_DIR=build-fex test pass. They cover the migration paths, removing read-only runtime folders, the per-lane caches, the old-cache cleanup, the install lock, and FEX recovery and build switches.
• cargo fmt --check, cargo check and cargo test pass in app-gpui, as do the backend source contracts and the route inventory check.
• On an M4, through the installed FEX build:
  • Dragon's Dogma 2 runs on Mullion.
  • Steam starts and stops through the wrapper.

[aaf2tbz]

Released as MetalSharp 1.0.0. The tag is on merge commit b44cc0f, and Release CI run 40653045054 passed: both DMG builds succeeded and the release was published.

What shipped

• MetalSharp-1.0.0-arm64.dmg (x86_64 build): notarized, and its backend is the regular build.
• MetalSharp-1.0.0-arm64-FEX.dmg (Arm64 FEX build): notarized. It carries MetalSharp Wine 4.0 unmodified (zip sha256 11ea3716…), and that app is notarized itself.
• Both were downloaded and checked after the release: spctl accepts both DMGs, both apps and the bundled MetalSharp-Wine.app as Notarized Developer ID, and the staples validate.

Components

• MetalSharp Wine v4.0: Wine 11.20 with FEX.
• VKD3D-Proton-MacOS v4.5.
• Mullion fork metalsharp-2.1 8018c44, which includes mullion: MULLION_TRACE_<CATEGORY>, a trace log of one problem category at a time dttdrv/mullion#70 and airconv: WaveReadLaneFirst with helper lanes; d3d12: no GPU work after device removal dttdrv/mullion#71.

Checked before merging

• PR CI passed on the final commit: C/C++/Obj-C, DMG workflow, docs, GPUI, Metal, rules TOML and shell. PR CI now builds and tests the FEX backend too.
• An independent review turned up three blockers, all fixed with tests:
  • a fresh FEX install no longer migrates again on its second launch;
  • "switch to x86_64" from the FEX build now installs the x86_64 DMG instead of reinstalling FEX;
  • a half-finished prefix conversion or restore can no longer roll a prefix back to an old backup.

Known follow-ups

• If a restore to x86_64 keeps failing (for example, the disk is full), migration reports the error at every start; there is no option to skip that prefix yet.
• make VARIANT=fex test skips the regular build's route, smoke and runtime tests, which assume the x86_64 runtime.
• The welcome overlay dims the library behind it instead of blurring it, because GPUI 0.2.2 has no backdrop blur.

Thanks to @MohamedElGhandour for #741 and #742.