Nested NSStackViews lead to ambiguous layout

TestView.swift

import Cocoa

final class TestView : NSView {
  
  static func makeAndAttachToView(_ rootView: NSView) {
    let view = TestView()
    view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    rootView.addSubview(view)
  
    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
      view.leadingAnchor .constraint(equalTo: rootView.leadingAnchor),
      view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: rootView.trailingAnchor),
      view.topAnchor     .constraint(equalTo: rootView.topAnchor),
      view.bottomAnchor  .constraint(equalTo: rootView.bottomAnchor)
    ])
  }

  override init(frame: NSRect) {
    super.init(frame: frame)
    
    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
      widthAnchor .constraint(equalToConstant: 320),
      heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 200)
    ])
    
    func makeStackView(_ orientation : NSUserInterfaceLayoutOrientation,
                       _ alignment   : NSLayoutConstraint.Attribute,
                       _ view        : NSView)
         -> NSStackView
    {
      // The subclasses are just for debugging in the Xcode View Debugger
      let v = NSStackView(views: [view])
      v.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
      v.orientation = orientation
      v.alignment   = alignment
      v.spacing     = 2.0
      return v
    }
    
    let searchField = NSSearchField(frame: NSMakeRect(0, 0, 128, 128))
    
    #if false // not ambiguous
      let view = makeStackView(.horizontal, .centerY, searchField)
    #else // ambiguous
      let view = makeStackView(.horizontal, .centerY,
        makeStackView(.vertical, .width, // .leading
                      searchField)
      )
    #endif
    
    addSubview(view)

    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
      view.leadingAnchor .constraint(equalTo: self.leadingAnchor),
      view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor),
      view.topAnchor     .constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor),
      view.bottomAnchor  .constraint(equalTo: self.bottomAnchor)
    ])
  }
  
  required init?(coder decoder: NSCoder) {
    fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
  }
}

The setup seems simple: We have a search-field, which is nested in a v-stack which itself is nested in an h-stack. As soon as I nest one stack in another, the layout becomes ambiguous. And I'm not quite sure why.

Looks right (a more complex variant jumps a few pixels now and then, hence it seems to be a proper ambiguity):

But Xcode says the height/y-pos are ambiguous:

1. The vertical position is ambiguous because the height is ambiguous (need the height to calculate the .centerY).
2. And the height is ambiguous, because the height of the inner stack view is >= the height of its contents?

What is the proper fix? Explicitly constrain the hstack to its largest child? That seems to defeat the idea of a stack view?

---

P.S.: To test the code, just create a new AppKit Xcode project, wire up the window's root view to an outlet, then attach the TestView using TestView.makeAndAttachToView(rootView), like so:

@NSApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
  @IBOutlet weak var window   : NSWindow!
  @IBOutlet weak var rootView : NSView!
  
  func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ aNotification: Notification) {
    TestView.makeAndAttachToView(rootView)
  }
}

This removes the ambiguity:

      let innerStack =  makeStackView(.vertical, .width, // .leading
                                      searchField)
      innerStack.setHuggingPriority(.defaultHigh, for: .vertical) // <=
    
      let view = makeStackView(.horizontal, .centerY, innerStack)

Note: it really is the NSStackView specific setHuggingPriority(_:for:), not setContentHuggingPriority(_:for:), which still results in the ambiguity.