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macOS Platform Support

macOS Platform Support

macOS platform implementation details and limitations.

Supported Versions

All modern macOS versions are supported:

  • macOS 10.x (Yosemite through Catalina)
  • macOS 11.x (Big Sur)
  • macOS 12.x (Monterey)
  • macOS 13.x (Ventura)
  • macOS 14.x+ (Sonoma and newer)

Both Intel and Apple Silicon (ARM64) architectures.

Data Sources

Environment Detection

  • sw_vers -productVersion - macOS version
  • uname command - Kernel info and architecture
  • Limited virtualization detection
  • No container detection (always returns ContainerType::NONE)

CPU Metrics

  • sysctl kern.cp_time - System-wide CPU times (deprecated on modern macOS)
  • sysctl kern.cp_times - Per-core CPU times (deprecated on modern macOS)
  • sysctl hw.ncpu - CPU core count

Modern macOS (Apple Silicon): CPU sysctls are deprecated and may return zero values.

Memory Metrics

  • vm_stat - Virtual memory statistics
  • sysctl hw.memsize - Total RAM
  • Swap is estimated (dynamic swap files)

Load Average

  • sysctl vm.loadavg - Load average (1, 5, 15 minutes)

System Uptime

  • sysctl kern.boottime - Boot time

Storage Metrics

  • df command - Filesystem usage
  • iostat - Disk I/O statistics (limited)

Network Metrics

  • netstat -ibn - Interface statistics
  • netstat -an - Connection statistics
  • Limited compared to Linux

Container Metrics

Not available - macOS has no cgroup support.

Permissions

Standard user access is sufficient. All commands are pre-installed and world-executable.

Known Limitations

CPU Metrics on Apple Silicon

Modern macOS (especially Apple Silicon) has deprecated CPU time sysctls:

sysctl kern.cp_time
# sysctl: unknown oid 'kern.cp_time'

Result: CPU time counters return zero. The library doesn't fail, but metrics are unavailable.

Workaround: Use system tools like top, ps, or Activity Monitor for CPU monitoring on modern Macs.

No Cgroup Support

macOS has no cgroup concept:

  • SystemMetrics::container() returns CgroupVersion::NONE
  • Container metrics unavailable
  • Unified Limits API falls back to host resources

Limited Virtualization Detection

Unlike Linux, macOS provides minimal virtualization information. Detection is basic and may miss some VM types.

Dynamic Swap

macOS uses dynamic swap files that are created/removed on demand. Swap metrics are best-effort estimates.

Buffers and Cache

macOS doesn't expose buffers/cache separately like Linux:

  • MemorySnapshot::buffersBytes always returns 0
  • MemorySnapshot::cachedBytes always returns 0

Performance

Command Execution

  • CPU: ~5-10ms (sysctl command execution)
  • Memory: ~5-10ms (vm_stat command execution)
  • Environment: ~10-15ms (multiple commands, cached after first call)

Commands are slower than Linux file reads due to process spawning overhead.

Testing

Tested on:

  • macOS 13.x (Ventura) - Intel
  • macOS 14.x (Sonoma) - Apple Silicon
  • macOS 15.x (Sequoia) - Apple Silicon

Recommendations

For macOS Developers

If you're developing on macOS but deploying to Linux:

  • Test on Linux for accurate metrics
  • Use Docker for Linux development environment
  • CPU metrics work fully on Linux in production

For macOS Production

If running production PHP on macOS (rare):

  • Be aware of CPU metric limitations
  • Consider alternative monitoring tools
  • Memory and load metrics work reliably
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