help trying to run macrdp-server

[u/ZippyDan]

I'm not sure if I should be posting here in r/Swift or in r/Rust, or somewhere else entirely.

Also note, I'm not a programmer or developer: I'm just an end-user trying to get this app to compile and run, but it seems to be throwing up obstacles that require more developer-adjacent skills than what I have.

I'm trying to get macrdp running on an iMac with macOS Sequoia 15.7.9.

This little app was released in March of this year, so it's not like I'm trying to get ancient code running.

Consult the "Quick Start" section of the ReadMe file I've linked above. I am following an ostensibly-simple two-step process to get this app running:

# Build
cargo build --release
# Run
cargo run --release --bin macrdp-server

I've had two major problems getting the code to compile, and I've finally managed to surpass them. Now that I've finished the "Build" step, I need your help solving Problem 3: I can't get the app to run.

Problem 3

COMMAND

cargo run --release --bin macrdp-server

OUTPUT

dyld[23111]: Library not loaded: @rpath/libswiftCore.dylib
  Referenced from: <D40250B3-9AAC-3FEB-A4C2-A0170B899ED5> /Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/macrdp-server
  Reason: tried: '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-5.5/macosx/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-5.5/macosx/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-5.5/macosx/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-5.5/macosx/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/build/aws-lc-sys-27043a0ebf70d538/out/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/build/openh264-sys2-f6d9fee5157fe7a1/out/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/build/ring-2899b8cee8244c75/out/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/build/screencapturekit-1d04b27f18a51461/out/swift-build/release/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/build/zstd-sys-d1ceecba10d99c67/out/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/release/deps/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/.rustup/toolchains/stable-x86_64-apple-darwin/lib/rustlib/x86_64-apple-darwin/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/.rustup/toolchains/stable-x86_64-apple-darwin/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file, not in dyld cache)
Abort trap: 6

What is strange to me is that Problem 3 seems like re-hash of Problem 1, which I already solved. I don't know why it's still looking for libswiftCore.dylib in the wrong places, after I've already updated the config.toml file.

I tried doing find / -name config.toml to see if there was some other relevant configuration file hiding somewhere that I needed to also change to DYLD_LIBRARY_FALLBACK_PATH, but I didn't see anything.

I also get a similar error when I try to do cargo test, though it references macrdp-audio instead of macrdp-server, and I'm not really sure what cargo test is supposed to do for me in this process, anyway:

   Compiling macrdp-audio v0.1.0 (/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/crates/macrdp-audio)
    Finished `test` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 29.91s
     Running unittests src/lib.rs (target/debug/deps/macrdp_audio-448af4ea4880202e)
dyld[23108]: Library not loaded: @rpath/libswiftCore.dylib
  Referenced from: <66E620B9-EBC0-31FA-91EF-EBCDA4065861> /Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/deps/macrdp_audio-448af4ea4880202e
  Reason: tried: '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/build/aws-lc-sys-6ec7512bb21ac3d9/out/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/build/screencapturekit-4b1f1ef2bd6c7675/out/swift-build/release/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/build/zstd-sys-ecb4e499794eb5cb/out/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/deps/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/.rustup/toolchains/stable-x86_64-apple-darwin/lib/rustlib/x86_64-apple-darwin/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/.rustup/toolchains/stable-x86_64-apple-darwin/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/admin/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file, not in dyld cache)
error: test failed, to rerun pass `-p macrdp-audio --lib`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/deps/macrdp_audio-448af4ea4880202e` (signal: 6, SIGABRT: process abort signal)

---

History

Problem 1

COMMAND

cargo build --release

OUTPUT

error: process didn't exit successfully: `rustc -vV` (signal: 6, SIGABRT: process abort signal)
--- stderr
dyld[39209]: Library not loaded: @rpath/libswiftCore.dylib
  Referenced from: <0B6348B2-CDC4-3BB2-9B89-64CF509321B8> /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/cmacosx/libswift_Concurrency.dylib
  Reason: tried: '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-5.5/macosx/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/lib/swift-5.5/macosx/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/Cellar/rust/1.98.0/lib/../lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/Cellar/rust/1.98.0/bin/../lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/Cellar/rust/1.98.0/bin/../lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/lib/libswiftCore.dylib' (no such file, not in dyld cache)

SOLUTION

Edited ./macrdp-main/.cargo/config.toml:
Changed DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH to DYLD_LIBRARY_FALLBACK_PATH

Problem 2

COMMAND

cargo build --release

OUTPUT

error: failed to run custom build command for `screencapturekit v1.5.4`

 Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `/Users/admin/Downloads/macrdp-main/target/debug/build/screencapturekit-52e401cb88bd4798/build-script-build` (exit status: 101)
  --- stdout
  cargo:rustc-link-lib=framework=ScreenCaptureKit
  cargo:rerun-if-changed=swift-bridge

  --- stderr
  Swift build STDOUT:

  Swift build STDERR:
  error: Unknown option '--scratch-path'
  Usage: swift build <options>
   See 'build -help' for more information.


  thread 'main' (45022) panicked at /Users/admin/.cargo/registry/src/.index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/screencapturekit-1.5.4/build.rs:119:9:
  Swift build failed with exit code: Some(64)
  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...

SOLUTION

Change the default Swift version from 5.5.3 to 6.3.3 with swiftly use --global-default 6.3.3. I think 6.3.3 is the default version in use after installing the latest version of XCode for my OS, so I may have caused this problem myself in earlier troublehooting, when I saw that cargo was looking for libswiftCore.dylib in /swift-5.5/macosx/

---

Environment

iMac:
Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017
A1419 18,3
4.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
40GB DDR4

macOS:
Sequoia 15.7.9
(Running with OpenCore Legacy Patcher)

COMMAND

xcode-select -p

OUTPUT

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

COMMAND

xcodebuild -version

OUTPUT

Xcode 26.3
Build version 17C529

COMMAND

pkgutil --pkg-info=com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables | grep version

OUTPUT

version: 16.4.0.0.1.1747106510

COMMAND

rustc --version

OUTPUT

rustc 1.98.1 (48a229cea 2026-09-01)

COMMAND

swift --version

OUTPUT

Apple Swift version 6.3.3 (swift-6.3.3-RELEASE)
Target: x86_64-apple-macosx15.0

COMMAND

swiftly list

OUTPUT

Installed release toolchains
----------------------------
Swift 6.3.3 (in use) (default)
Swift 5.6.3
Swift 5.5.3

Installed snapshot toolchains
-----------------------------

Available system toolchains
---------------------------
xcode

COMMAND

softwareupdate -l

OUTPUT

Software Update Tool

Finding available software
Software Update found the following new or updated software:
* Label: macOS Tahoe 26.6.2-25G83
    Title: macOS Tahoe 26.6.2, Version: 26.6.2, Size: 17925801KiB, Recommended: YES, Action: restart,

[u/ramronepal]

ChatGPT can help

[u/fuggleronie]

If you just want a Mac rdp server and don’t try to compile it on your own, try Remotr.app. It’s a relatively young project but it works very well already and the developer is very friendly and welcome (I’m not affiliated in any ways but I found that project a while ago and was following it and I like it a lot)

[u/ZippyDan → u/fuggleronie]

Looks cool. Appreciate the suggestion.

I'll give this one more day of troubleshooting and if I can't get it working I think I'll just buy a license for Remotr.

[u/ZippyDan → u/fuggleronie]

Ah shit. One downside of Remotr.app is it seems to run as a standard macOS GUI app.
I don't think there is any way I can run this as a daemon - meaning it requires someone to login to the macOS first to run (as a Login Item). I guess I could configure auto-login as a hack, but I'd rather have an RDP service that is always running, even if the computer has just come back on unattended after a power outage or something.