Run Qt app headless in Github Actions on macOS

[Vadi2]

How can I run my Qt Application in a headless environment such as Github Actions on macOS?

This is easily solved on Linux with xvfb-run but no similar alternatives seem to exist on macOS.

[Vadi2]

Thank you.

I had troubles running it with the offscreen plugin due to differences in application/library signing, but worked out that the headless issue itself was a red herring: an application can run just fine in Github Actions on macOS, they do not use a headless environment there.

[SGaist]

Hi,

You can use the offscreen platform plugin for that.

[Vadi2]

Thank you.

I had troubles running it with the offscreen plugin due to differences in application/library signing, but worked out that the headless issue itself was a red herring: an application can run just fine in Github Actions on macOS, they do not use a headless environment there.

[SGaist]

Can you explain what was the signing issue you had ? It might help others on the future.

[Vadi2]

Sure, here is the debug output when running with the offscreen plugin - I imagine cocoa was similar: https://sprunge.us/LE0PNl

I ended up 'fixing' it by stripping the signature off my application, which is OK to do as this binary won't leave the CI environment:

sudo codesign --remove-signature <.app here>

[SGaist]

Ok, I am surprised by that error. Thanks for sharing !