On macOS, 3DxWare installs a driver extension that takes the 3D mouse
over. With it installed, HidBackend opens the device but receives
nothing, so the mouse did nothing in QElectroTech until 3DxWare was
uninstalled (discussion #599, PR #1028). Most Mac owners of a 3D mouse
have 3DxWare installed.
ConnexionBackend asks 3DxWare for the motion instead, through
3DconnexionClient.framework, as Blender does. SpaceMouseListener tries
it first. When 3DxWare is not installed, or is installed but its driver
is not running, it falls back to HidBackend, so the device works in
both setups. Take-over mode stops 3DxWare's own actions in QET, so the
view does not move twice.
The library is loaded at run time from where 3DxWare installs it:
nothing is linked or bundled, and the build needs no SDK. The few
declarations are written here, from Blender's
GHOST_NDOFManagerCocoa.mm, because 3Dconnexion's SDK headers may not be
redistributed. 3DxWare's axes are y up and z away from the user; they
are mapped to QET's raw USB convention by comparing Blender's 3DxWare
and spacenavd code paths.
The release script signs with the hardened runtime, which refuses a
library another team signed. misc/qelectrotech.entitlements adds
com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation (Blender's notarized
build carries the same one), and MacQetDeploy_arm64_cmake.sh now passes
it to all four signings of the app, including the re-sign inside the
DMG.
Tested: tst_spacemouseconnexion runs the backend on every platform
against fakeconnexion, a stand-in library that answers from its own
thread as 3DxWare does: registration, the axis mapping, buttons, other
clients' messages, 3DxWare not installed or not running, deletion
with a message in flight. Flipping an axis sign or dropping the client
check turns it red. realLibrary() loads the real framework when
3DxWare is installed. Linux Qt 6 build with the 3D mouse enabled: all
18 tests pass.
Not tested: on a Mac with a real device. The axis signs and whether
buttons arrive as a bitmask with current 3DxWare are unverified.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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