Intel Macs are reaching their end-of-life

(This is not a ODK-only issue. In fact this is not really an _issue_ at all. But this is something affects, or will affect at some point, several tools and libraries used in the OBO world, such as Protégé, Python etc. I am merely using the ODK bug tracker as a place to put things out.)

Apple computers using an Intel (x86-64) CPU are being phased out by Apple. They already stopped selling them, and support for the existing machines is fading away – not only from Apple, but from all across the IT world:

* From Apple (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-details-the-end-of-intel-mac-support-and-a-phaseout-for-rosetta-2/):
* the next MacOS version (MacOS 27) will only run on arm64;
* MacOS 26 (the last version to support x86-64) will receive security updates until 2028;
* Rosetta, the emulation layer allowing to run x86-64 applications on arm64, will no longer be available in MacOS 28.
* Starting from Java 27, the MacOS version of OpenJDK will only support arm64 (https://openjdk.org/jeps/541).
* Python now treats x86-64 Mac OS (`x86_64-apple-darwin`) as a “Tier 2 platform” (https://peps.python.org/pep-0011/).
* So does Node.js (https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/main/BUILDING.md#supported-platforms) until 2028, after which the platform will be further downgraded to “experimental” status.
* So does Rust (https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/rustc/platform-support.html).

What does it mean for the OBO community?

**(A) If you have a arm64 Mac.**

The only thing that matters is the end of support for **Rosetta** in MacOS 28. It means that, if you are still using an application that was compiled for x86-64, that application will no longer work at all from MacOS 28 onwards. If the developers of that application are still around, now would be the time to ask them to provide a arm64 version (or a “universal binary” version) – in fact, arguably the time to do that would have been 4 years ago. If they are no longer around, then it’s time to find an alternative.

There shouldn’t be any issue with the ODK and with Protégé, both of which work natively on arm64 (ODK since version 1.2.29, Protégé since version 5.6.0). However some Protégé plugins (such as Fact++) will be a problem.

**(B) If you have a x86-64 Mac.**

Starting from 2028 or maybe even 2027, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to keep maintaining versions of our tools that work on your machine. For the ODK, the nail in the coffin will probably come from Docker – the moment Docker Desktop is no longer available for x86-64 Mac, it’s game over for the ODK on those machines. For Protégé, we should be fine until we have to migrate to Java 27+ (we’re still on Java 11 for now, so we have some margin).

The issue names no repository files, tests, or entry points, and it does not request a concrete change. Review the cited support timelines for macOS, Docker, Java, Python, Node.js, and Rust, then clarify whether the ODK needs a compatibility or documentation update and what completion means.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.