Xcode 11 unusable on Catalina?

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Leo Braun OP

Created May ’20

Replies 22

Boosts 0

Views 9.3k

Participants 6

Is it just my luck - or is Xcode 11 unusable?

I just upgraded from Mojave to Catalina and installed Xcode 11 from App Store (all latest versions naturally).

Xcode 11 is simply unusable.

In brief:

On attempt to use Interface Builder, Xcode 11 gradually becomes unresponsive and then everything deteriorates completely. Xcode 10 and everything else works normally.

In detail:

When opening a project and starting working with code everything seems to be normal. But once I open a .xib file things go downhill.

In Interface Builder, when I click elements they're not selected right away but after a brief delay. And then it takes several seconds until the info in the inspector updates.

Then scrollers stop working. The entire app becomes unresponsive - like I click tab and it takes awhile until it activates. Then several clicks I performed earlier with no effect, suddenly start executing one after another.

Same thing in the code editor: everything I type happens after a brief delay. Code completion doesn't work at all.

I did the following troubleshooting:

-Deleted and re-installed Xcode 11

-Restarted Mac

-Created a new clean user and ran Xcode there

-Restarted in safe mode

Nothing helps - exactly the same things happens every time in all projects.

Once again, Xcode 10 works normally.

Xcode 11 cannot be used.

Specs:

iMac 2017 27" 40 GB RAM

macOS 10.5.4

Xcode 11.4.1 [noSwift, ObjC only, only Mac apps]

Thanks for any feedback,

Leo

Boost

KMT OP

May ’20

>I may soon share a brand new Xcode project with a xib that triggers the issue (here at least).

Not that you have that, you might want to burn a support ticket w/DTS via the Member Center and ask them to take a look at it.

Timvd OP

May ’20

Hi Leo,

Have you had any luck yet in finding the cause? I seem to be having the exact same issue. Xcode working completely fine, until I start dragging something in the interface builder. The software then becomes completely unresponsive.

-Tim

Claude31 OP

May ’20

Leo Braun seems to have found the cause or pretty close to.

As OOPer suggested, the problems seems to come from some xib (TabView).

You should try to do the same search of what xib causes the problem.

Of course, if you have tabView, it should be the first suspect.

Leo Braun OP

May ’20

Hi Tim,

As Claude mentioned, I found what causes the problem (at least in my case) - you can see a detailed description in my post above from May 11.

I updated my bug report to Apple with the new info - but I believe that's all we can do in this case. Until Apple fixes the problem, Xcode 11 won't work for us.

Unless you already did, I encourage you to submit a bug to Apple too. Hopefully they'll take it seriously if hear from multiple users.

You can still use Xcode 10 as you may know anyway.

Thanks,

Leo

Leo Braun OP

Jun ’20

This is just an update that nothing has changed in Xcode 12:

After the announcement of Xcode 12, Apple finally contacted me regarding this bug and asked to check if it's fixed in Xcode 12.

After trying Xcode 12 beta I can confirm that nothing has changed there. The bug remains exactly the same exhibiting exactly the same behavior.

Leo Braun OP

Jul ’20

Ok I can confirm that this issue is FIXED in Xcode 12 beta 3.

From Xcode release notes:
•Fixed performance issues with NSTabView and hidden views in a storyboard or .xib canvas. (63008369, 64314634)

Thank you Apple!

Big relief.

Bookworm370 OP

Jul ’20

Glad to see this. I've been having the same XCode lags in clicking in the same place (like a forward arrow in a search) and spinning wheels of death at times, but if you wait long enough it straitens itself out.

Running Beta 2 and waiting for Beta 3 feedback. This may be the trigger for me to install Beta 3.

Thanks