The forum thread posted here a couple times has a post from me (second post in the thread) that has some schedules of when to expect releases of some of these other plug-ins. I think it answers some of your questions. At the risk of repetition, I’ll repost it anyway…
Is there any other way to tell — other than trial-and-error?
Apple did build a nice way to tell if an app is universal – but unfortunately not for things other than apps. For an app, you can Get Info in the Finder. Look for “Universal”, “Intel”, or “Apple Silicon” at the end of “Kind:” property. But with other bundles, like RapidWeaver plug-ins, frameworks, etc. it won’t show the architecture.
You can still find out, but it takes technical know-how and a terminal command. I mean, YUCK!!! Right!?
Still interested? Somehow I doubt it… but I’ll keep going, just in case someone’s interested.
Open Terminal and use the “file” command. But you have to run it on the actual binary inside the plug-in’s bundle. Here’s what it looks like for Stacks:
% file Stacks.rapidweaverplugin/Contents/MacOS/Stacks
Stacks.rapidweaverplugin/Contents/MacOS/Stacks: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures: [x86_64:Mach-O 64-bit bundle x86_64] [arm64]
Stacks.rapidweaverplugin/Contents/MacOS/Stacks (for architecture x86_64): Mach-O 64-bit bundle x86_64
Stacks.rapidweaverplugin/Contents/MacOS/Stacks (for architecture arm64): Mach-O 64-bit bundle arm64
Notice for Stacks it says “universal” and lists both architectures. Non-universal plug-ins show only the x86_64 line. As far as I know this is the easiest way to tell if a non-app is universal.
Does anyone know of an easier way?
This is not a rhetorical question. I have to do this A LOT. It would sure save me an awful lot of time if it were easier.