A message from vit9696

We are very pleased to meet you this evening to present our latest achievements in the scene. This update is particularly remarkable for one reason: today, OpenCore becomes the only openly available bootloader capable of running any version of macOS released for Intel CPUs, spanning as early as macOS 10.4 to macOS 11 (which is currently in the late beta phase). Most importantly, the architecture we created allows us to perform a very clean integration both code-wise and configuration-wise, allowing the user to have a single configuration for every macOS version ever needed. My congratulations go to all who made this possible.

Last month we stated that collaboration is a primary goal for Acidanthera in every aspect, and today we present our next steps in this direction. If you use multiple macOS versions you might have noticed that some kexts may not always work on an older operating system if built with a newer Xcode version. This is because the macOS kernel SDK is version dependent and does not always respect the API and ABI differences in the kernel. Previously we used various workarounds available in most Acidanthera kexts which let us target macOS 10.8 and sometimes even lower, and now these workarounds are available to everyone as a standalone product: MacKernelSDK. This product lets you build kernel extensions with basically any recent Xcode version for basically any macOS version. It is very easy to integrate in your environment and all the kexts in Acidanthera have already been migrated, providing a great example to numerous popular third-party kexts migrating right now.

Another important side of the collaboration is the ability to share our code. Previously, we made it possible to build standalone drivers like OcQuirks (which provided a compatibility layer for legacy bootloaders) and we also shared our code with various projects for classic Mac Pros letting them work with most GPUs available on the market. This time, we shared our core code with a popular legacy bootloader named Clover, letting it launch recent versions of macOS. Surely, we understand that such a project will never be as stable, fast, or secure as the original; that goes without saying. However, the users are those who we actually value. and we understand that not all these users have completed the migration, and so as part of our goodwill, we give them an ability to postpone this a little longer. Take your time while we care for your productivity.

For the technical part of the story, I cannot miss the chance to shed a little light on some key changes. @Goldfish64 merged all the remarkable work dedicated to 32-bit macOS compatibility, making it possible to install basically any version from a clean image through the original installer, even with CPUs as far back as the Pentium 4. To our own surprise, most of the validation team members were pleased to report that the migration of their old machines went very smoothly. @BAndysc and @hieplpvip contributed basic ELAN touchpad support to VoodooPS2 with a large number of touchpads working out of the box and more issues currently being worked on. @zhen-zen and @usr-sse2 contributed a new driver called BrightnessKeys that greatly simplifies the process of ACPI editing for backlight hotkey handling. @lvs1974 and @PMHeart made it possible to reimplement BT4LEContinuityFixup’s functionality into all recent macOS versions as a part of an OpenCore quirk known as ExtendBTFeatureFlags. Finally, the advancements in Intel Wireless support by @usr-sse2 were also merged upstream and released as a part of the latest alpha release.

Every release is a considerable amount of effort by a small team with the members spending a lot of their free time to make it possible. They write code, they write documentation, they run a lot of tests, and they help to maintain the repositories and reply on the bugtracker. While it is not possible to mention everyone in the highlights, I use this ability to thank them all once more.

We hope you enjoy the new features and stay safe as the situation gets more serious outside.

Guide Updates

Just like with last month, we’ve expanded our guide support once again! Specifically we’ve now added support for almost every native Intel CPU generation including:

Yonah, Conroe and Penryn
Lynnfield and Clarkdale
Clarksfield and Arrandale
Nehalem and Westmere

In addition to more legacy support hardware wise, we’ve also expanded our DuetPkg support to Windows, added more OS X install methods including 10.4 and much more info on legacy quirks in OpenCore. This is all thanks to the rigorous work from @Goldfish64 and @vit9696 on adding more legacy support to OpenCore itself!

We had quite a bit fun going back and messing with older versions of OS X and even experience some versions for the first time. I made a mini thread about my hardware here: One box, every x86 install! HP DC 7900

OpenCore Install Guide

— Khronokernel

Changelogs

OpenCore 0.6.2

Updated builtin firmware versions for SMBIOS and the rest
Added ProcessorType option to Generic allowing custom CPU names
Fixed UnblockFsConnect option not working with APFS JumpStart
Added IA32 binary variant to the release bundles
Fixed improper handling of cacheless kexts without an Info.plist
Fixed improper calculation of kext startup address for blocking
Added mkext 32-bit kext injection (10.4-10.6)
Added cacheless 32-bit kext injection (10.4-10.7)
Added 32-bit kernel/kext patching/blocking support
Fixed issues loading 10.7 EfiBoot
Added Type to ReservedMemory to fulfil hibernation hack needs
Added workaround to displaying Preboot instead of Macintosh HD
Added prelinkedkernel 32-bit kext injection (10.6-10.7)
Added SystemMemoryStatus to override memory replacement on some models
Added older Pentium CPU recognition in SMBIOS
Added ExtendBTFeatureFlags to properly set FeatureFlags for Bluetooth (which substitutes BT4LEContinuityFixup)
Added MinKernel/MaxKernel to CPUID emulation and DummyPowerManagement
Fixed -legacy not being added in KernelArch Auto mode
Fixed i386-user32 not forcing i386 on macOS 10.7 on X64 firmwares
Fixed i386-user32 being incorrectly enabled in macOS 10.4, 10.5, and 10.7
Disabled prelinked boot for macOS 10.4 and 10.5 in KernelCache Auto mode
Fixed macserial compatibility with iMac20,x serials and other models from 2020
Added LegacyCommpage quirk to improve pre-SSSE3 userspace compatibility
Fixed legacy SATA HDDs displaying as external drives in the picker

Lilu 1.4.8

Added MacKernelSDK with Xcode 12 compatibility
Removed kern_atomic.hpp due to MacKernelSDK implementation
Acidanthera MacKernelSDK is now required for all plugins
Fixed Lilu loading on macOS 10.6 (not all APIs will be functional)
Fixed plugin debug log not working with Lilu disabled

AppleALC 1.5.3

Fix ALCS1200A lost ID 11 by owen0o0
Added MacKernelSDK with Xcode 12 compatibility

WhateverGreen 1.4.3

Added CFL and CML P630
Added MacKernelSDK with Xcode 12 compatibility
Fixed loading on macOS 10.11 and earlier

VirtualSMC 1.1.7

Added MacKernelSDK with Xcode 12 compatibility
Fixed SMCDellSensors loading on macOS 10.8
Added VirtualSMC support for 10.6 (most plugins require newer versions)
Fixed rare kernel panic in SMCSuperIO

AirportBrcmFixup 2.1.0

Add pci14e4,4331, pci14e4,4353 and pci14e4,4357 into AirPortBrcmNIC_Injector.kext (in 11.0 only AirPortBrcmNIC can support these devices)
Added MacKernelSDK with Xcode 12 compatibility
Fixed macOS 10.8 compatibility (without ASPM support)

HibernationFixup 1.3.6

Postpone RTC wake in AppleRTC::setupDateTimeAlarm according to current standby/autopoweroff delay (if auto-hibernate feature and standby/autopoweroff is on) in order to avoid earlier wake.