`libhostpolicy.dylib` incompatible architecture on macOS (arm64) with .NET 8

[mansanlab]

I am encountering an architecture compatibility error when running ThermoRawFileParser v2.0.0-dev-osx using .NET 8 on macOS (Apple Silicon).

It appears the bundled libhostpolicy.dylib is built for x86_64, while my system requires arm64/arm64e.

Environment

• ThermoRawFileParser version: v2.0.0-dev-osx
• .NET version: 8.0.418
• OS: macOS Sequoia (15.6.1)
• Architecture: arm64

---

Command Executed

dotnet --version
8.0.418

dotnet ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/ThermoRawFileParser.dll \
  -i=Hela_trapelute_200ug_2umColumn_test001.raw

---

Error Output

Failed to load /Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/libhostpolicy.dylib, error: 
dlopen(/Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/libhostpolicy.dylib, 0x0001): tried: 
'/Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/libhostpolicy.dylib' 
(mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'x86_64', need 'arm64e' or 'arm64')), 
'/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/libhostpolicy.dylib' (no such file), 
'/Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/libhostpolicy.dylib' 
(mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'x86_64', need 'arm64e' or 'arm64'))

An error occurred while loading required library libhostpolicy.dylib from 
[/Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/]

Questions

1. Is there an arm64 build available for macOS?
2. Should this be run under Rosetta (arch -x86_64 dotnet ...) instead?
3. Is there a recommended way to rebuild ThermoRawFileParser for arm64 on macOS?

This appears to be an architecture mismatch rather than a .NET runtime issue, since .NET 8 itself is functioning correctly on the system.

[caetera]

Hi @mansanlab,

Thank you for using ThermoRawFileParser. I do not have experience with arm64 in general. Currently, the project targets only the x64 platform. I made a quick experimental build that targets osx-arm64 - I flipped the platform in the project file and rebuilt the project (added to the release page - https://github.com/CompOmics/ThermoRawFileParser/releases/download/v.2.0.0-dev/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx-arm64.zip)

This may not be sufficient, and I don't have a way to test the build. Could you, please, check if this works for you? If it works, we will include arm64 builds in the release.

[mansanlab]

This is a great improvement, thank you for the swift response! However, the parser fails with a System.TypeInitializationException error, reporting that ThermoFisher.CommonCore.RawFileReader.dll cannot be found, even though it is present in the same directory as ThermoRawFileParser.dll.

First I had to allow dotnet to run all *.dylib libraries by bypassing MacOS security quarantine by running the following:

> xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx-arm64
> xattr ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx-arm64/*

This is probably not the best way to begin, however I will try to find a safer work around once operational.

Then I tried running:

dotnet ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/ThermoRawFileParser.dll \
  -i=Hela_trapelute_200ug_2umColumn_test001.raw

However I am met with the error:

2026-02-26 08:17:46 INFO Started parsing ../Hela_trapelute_200ug_2umColumn_test001.raw
2026-02-26 08:17:46 ERROR An unexpected error occured (see below)
2026-02-26 08:17:46 ERROR System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.Business.RawFileReaderFactory' threw an exception.
 ---> System.IO.FileLoadException: ThermoFisher.CommonCore.RawFileReader.dll is not found in /Users/loaner/Downloads/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx-arm64
 ---> System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'ThermoFisher.CommonCore.RawFileReader, Version=8.0.6.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=1aef06afb5abd953'.
   at System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.LoadFromAssemblyPath(String assemblyPath)
   at System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFrom(String assemblyFile)
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.ObjectFactory`1.Initialize(Boolean throwExceptions)
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.ObjectFactory`1.Initialize(Boolean throwExceptions)
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.ObjectFactory`1.Initialize()
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.ObjectFactory`1..ctor(String extension, String typeToInitialize, String assemblyToLoad, String methodName, Boolean initialize)
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.Business.RawFileReaderFactory.CreateReader()
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.Business.RawFileReaderFactory..cctor()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at ThermoFisher.CommonCore.Data.Business.RawFileReaderFactory.ReadFile(String fileName)
   at ThermoRawFileParser.RawFileParser.ProcessFile(ParseInput parseInput) in /home/vgor/build/ThermoRawFileParser/RawFileParser.cs:line 120
   at ThermoRawFileParser.RawFileParser.TryProcessFile(ParseInput parseInput) in /home/vgor/build/ThermoRawFileParser/RawFileParser.cs:line 66
2026-02-26 08:17:46 INFO Processing completed 1 errors, 0 warnings

[caetera]

Sorry, I am not sure how to interpret the error. There are a couple of things you can try

1. The self-contained release I shared earlier has a platform-dependent executable ThermoRawFileParser. It should not be necessary to point dotnet to ThermoRawFileParser.dll.

> file publish/osx-arm64/ThermoRawFileParser
publish/osx-arm64/ThermoRawFileParser: Mach-O 64-bit arm64 executable, flags:<NOUNDEFS|DYLDLINK|TWOLEVEL|BINDS_TO_WEAK|PIE|HAS_TLV_DESCRIPTORS>

It might contain some additional "magic" to set the dependencies correctly. You can try to run it, i.e.

ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-osx/ThermoRawFileParser -i=Hela_trapelute_200ug_2umColumn_test001.raw

2. Since you seem to have dotnet installed, you can try to use a framework-based release (https://github.com/CompOmics/ThermoRawFileParser/releases/download/v.2.0.0-dev/ThermoRawFileParser-v.2.0.0-dev-net8.zip). This one contains only project files and requires (as a minimum) platform-dependent .NET 8.0 and Asp.NET 8.0 runtimes. It must be executed as dotnet ThermoRawFileParser.dll (the way you did it earlier)

3. Building the project locally. You will need to install the .NET 8 SDK for that. Next, you can clone the arm64 branch of the repository (I pushed the changes that add the ARM64 platform target to the project).

git clone https://github.com/CompOmics/ThermoRawFileParser.git --depth 1 --branch "arm64"

This is only the last commit (i.e., --depth 1), since you don't need to have a complete history. If you don't have git, you can download the zipped source code from Github (https://github.com/CompOmics/ThermoRawFileParser/tree/arm64) and unzip it.

Next, you just need to build the project file with MSBuild - dotnet build ThermoRawFileParser/ThermoRawFileParser.csproj (might need to supply -c Release - Release configuration).

4. As an immediate solution, you can use dockerized version. You will need to have Docker and enable Rosetta to run images https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/mac-install/

docker pull quay.io/biocontainers/thermorawfileparser:2.0.0.dev--h9ee0642_0

docker run --rm -v {localpath}:/work thermorawfileparser:2.0.0.dev--h9ee0642_0 thermorawfileparser -i /work/{filename}

[mansanlab]

Solution 1 did work!

I still had to bypassing MacOS security quarantine on the first run. To prevent this the tool will have to be shipped using Apple Notarization, this might be difficult without being able to test on MacOS. I would be happy to help in anyway I can to keep the arm-based version alive.

[ypriverol]

@mansanlab Can you also test the container? if possible, I was checking the other day the version before 2.0.0, and the container was failing even with arm emulator. This is the way to run it:

docker pull quay.io/biocontainers/thermorawfileparser:2.0.0.dev--h9ee0642_0

[mansanlab]

@ypriverol the docker version is not working for me either on MacOS.

See the following error:

WARNING: The requested image's platform (linux/amd64) does not match the detected host platform (linux/arm64/v8) and no specific platform was requested
docker: Error response from daemon: mounts denied: 
The path /home/user/raw is not shared from the host and is not known to Docker.
You can configure shared paths from Docker -> Preferences... -> Resources -> File Sharing.
See https://docs.docker.com/go/mac-file-sharing/ for more info.

Run 'docker run --help' for more information