The Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCO) has recently approved an exception regarding the inclusion of executable files and libraries specifically designed for the MacOS platform in the ASAHI-INSTALLER installer. This decision was made in response to a request from developers working on the Fedora ASAHI Remix project, which is tailored for Mac computers equipped with Apple silicon ARM chips. The exception allows for the integration of these components, enabling a smoother installation process for users.
Instead of utilizing the ANACONDA installer commonly used in Fedora distributions, the Fedora Asahi Remix project employs its own installer known as asahi-installer. This installer is designed to kickstart the Fedora Asahi Remix process from the MacOS operating system already present on MAC computers, providing a streamlined experience. Apart from the application itself, the installer also includes a Python module responsible for extracting and placing firmware. While the firmware unpacking module has been accepted in the Fedora repository, inclusion of the actual installer poses a challenge due to the executable files required for MacOS platform.
Given that the installer is developed in Python, its execution on MacOS necessitates the presence of the Python interpreter and the LibFFI library. These components, which are originally licensed, are difficult to assemble for MacOS within a Linux environment. Consequently, the developers of Fedora Asahi Remix sought an exception to the standard rules in order to incorporate the PYTHON interpreter and LibFFI library into the ASHI-INSTALLER. By bundling these files with the initial installation texts, it becomes feasible to leverage the standard Fedora infrastructure for compiling the installer instead of relying on third-party components from the ASAHI Linux project.
According to the guidelines for packaging packages in Fedora, all binary files of programs and libraries included in the final packages must be assembled from the original texts supplied in a package with the original texts. This requirement is implemented to ensure that binary files do not contain any hidden functionality or malicious alterations, as verifying their integrity and making corrections using patches can be challenging. Additionally, binary executable files and libraries must be compiled using specific flags prescribed by Fedora, which may include protection and optimization mechanisms.