iSH actually uses a semi-JIT to emulate an x86 CPU — it doesn't run ARM64 code. It basically creates an arrray of function pointers to snippets of pre-translated code. It's not a full JIT like UTM, but it's an interesting workaround for iOS' restrictions.

Official description: https://github.com/tbodt/ish#a-note-on-the-jit

A more accurate term for it would be threaded interpretation.

I said it was a 'usermode Linux "terminal" emulator', never said it was a VM or anything like that. IIRC the dev said he also wasn't allowed to publish it to the App Store and I assume it falls under the same catagory of "not allowed" in Apple's eyes as UTM would've had.

> I said it was a 'usermode Linux "terminal" emulator', never said it was a VM or anything like that.

It's a full x86 emulator.

> IIRC the dev said he also wasn't allowed to publish it to the App Store

He didn't, it's just never been tested whether it could be on the store or not.

Actually, someone compiled it, added ads, and put it on the App Store. Not sure if it is still there, but it got through approval.

Oh, that happens all the time. The real test is when the official app gets approved and stays on the App Store.

> Anything you run has to be compiled already

You can compile binaries on iSH and they'll run on the emulator just as all the other code does.

Compile using what? It’s form of emulation has never been complete enough to run a compiler (heck even interpreters like Python have been very brittle) in my experience as a user since the beginning, so I’m curious what you’ve seen success with.

GCC works reasonably well.

Interesting, thx for the reply. I haven’t tried GCC in the last few updates, so will try again.

Edit: just tried it and indeed you are right, it works in a few cases now. Clang also works for basic test cases.