Using plugins with new version and platform

[Jesper Eriksson]

Hi,
I just upgraded my laptop to a Mac M1 running on the ARM platform. I am working with traj, a user-written program. However when I want to install traj to my new computer and Stata 16 I get the following error:

net from http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bjones/traj 
net install traj, replace 

package does not contain traj.plugin for MACARM64 platform
could not load traj.pkg from http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bjones/traj/
r(601);

Does anyone know any way around this problem? I have Stata 14 on my old laptop, is there a way to install both versions on my new laptop (M1 - ARM platform) to be able to use traj on my new laptop or am I bound to switch between my laptops...

All the best and thanks in advance.

Jesper Eriksson

[William Lisowski]

I'm consolidating my response to the question posed here with the slightly different questions posed at your cross-post at

https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...-help-usersite

Since traj is a plugin, I think it likely that you will in the long run want a version of traj.plugin compiled with native Apple silicon code. I don't think Rosetta on macOS supports linking an Intel plugin into a native Apple silicon executable. You should contact Stata Technical Services to confirm that. They can also advise you on installing the Mac Intel version of Stata alongside your Mac silicon executable.

You might contact the author of the traj package from the Contact link on the traj homepage at

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bjones/

and see if they have any plans to create a native Mac Silicon plugin. If they lack access to an Apple silicon Mac, perhaps they could work with you to help you create the necessary plugin.

At the cross-post, I noted that at the time of this writing, help usersite has not been updated to include MACARM64 among the list of potential platform names.

[Jesper Eriksson]

To close this thread. I had an email discussion with Bobby Jones, one of the authors of the traj package. I was able to open and use traj via Rosetta:

Email answer:
"Another researcher using traj on M1 reported the following worked:
1) in the “Applications” folder, locate the Stata app
2) right-click on the Stata app and click “Get Info”
3) click “Open using Rosetta”
Best, B."

Moreover, there is an issue with plotting censored normal multi trajectory graphs in the old versions of traj. So update your traj version.

/Jesper

[Chinh Nguyen (StataCorp)]

You might contact the author of the traj package from the Contact link on the traj homepage at

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bjones/

and see if they have any plans to create a native Mac Silicon plugin. If they lack access to an Apple silicon Mac, perhaps they could work with you to help you create the necessary plugin.

At the cross-post, I noted that at the time of this writing, help usersite has not been updated to include MACARM64 among the list of potential platform names.

FYI, it's not required to compile a native Apple Silicon plugin on an Apple Silicon Mac. All you have to do is get the latest version of Xcode and recompile the plugin. You can even make a universal plugin that'll run on both Apple Silicon- and Intel-based Macs. For example, for the plugin file myplugin.c, I just enter:

   clang -bundle -o myplugin.x86_64 myplugin.c stplugin.c -DSYSTEM=APPLEMAC -target x86_64-apple-macos10.11

   clang -bundle -o myplugin.arm64 myplugin.c stplugin.c -DSYSTEM=APPLEMAC -target arm64-apple-macos11

   lipo -create -output myplugin.plugin myplugin.x86_64 myplugin.arm64

We will update the usersite help file.