Compiling for macOS (original) (raw)

Note

This page describes how to compile macOS editor and export template binaries from source. If you're looking to export your project to macOS instead, read Exporting for macOS.

Requirements

For compiling under macOS, the following is required:

Note

If you have Homebrew installed, you can easily install SCons using the following command:

Installing Homebrew will also fetch the Command Line Tools for Xcode automatically if you don't have them already.

Similarly, if you have MacPortsinstalled, you can easily install SCons using the following command:

Compiling

Start a terminal, go to the root directory of the engine source code.

To compile for Intel (x86-64) powered Macs, use:

scons platform=macos arch=x86_64

To compile for Apple Silicon (ARM64) powered Macs, use:

scons platform=macos arch=arm64

Tip

If you are compiling Godot to make changes or contribute to the engine, you may want to use the SCons options dev_build=yes or dev_mode=yes. See Development and production aliasesfor more info.

If all goes well, the resulting binary executable will be placed in thebin/ subdirectory. This executable file contains the whole engine and runs without any dependencies. Executing it will bring up the Project Manager.

Note

Using a standalone editor executable is not recommended, it should be always packaged into an.app bundle to avoid UI activation issues.

Note

If you want to use separate editor settings for your own Godot builds and official releases, you can enableSelf-contained mode by creating a file called._sc_ or _sc_ in the bin/ folder.

Automatic .app bundle creation

To automatically create an .app bundle like in the official builds, use the generate_bundle=yes option on the _last_SCons command used to build editor:

scons platform=macos arch=x86_64 scons platform=macos arch=arm64 generate_bundle=yes

Manual .app bundle creation

To support both architectures in a single "Universal 2" binary, run the above two commands and then use lipo to bundle them together:

lipo -create bin/godot.macos.editor.x86_64 bin/godot.macos.editor.arm64 -output bin/godot.macos.editor.universal

To create an .app bundle, you need to use the template located in misc/dist/macos_tools.app. Typically, for an optimized editor binary built with dev_build=yes:

cp -r misc/dist/macos_tools.app ./bin/Godot.app mkdir -p bin/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS cp bin/godot.macos.editor.universal bin/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot chmod +x bin/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot codesign --force --timestamp --options=runtime --entitlements misc/dist/macos/editor.entitlements -s - bin/Godot.app

Note

If you are building the master branch, you also need to include support for the MoltenVK Vulkan portability library. By default, it will be linked statically from your installation of the Vulkan SDK for macOS. You can also choose to link it dynamically by passing use_volk=yes and including the dynamic library in your .app bundle:

mkdir -p .app/Contents/Frameworks cp /macOS/lib/libMoltenVK.dylib .app/Contents/Frameworks/libMoltenVK.dylib

Running a headless/server build

To run in headless mode which provides editor functionality to export projects in an automated manner, use the normal build:

scons platform=macos target=editor

And then use the --headless command line argument:

./bin/godot.macos.editor.x86_64 --headless

To compile a debug server build which can be used withremote debugging tools, use:

scons platform=macos target=template_debug

To compile a release server build which is optimized to run dedicated game servers, use:

scons platform=macos target=template_release production=yes

Building export templates

To build macOS export templates, you have to compile using the targets without the editor: target=template_release (release template) andtarget=template_debug.

Official templates are Universal 2 binaries which support both ARM64 and Intel x86_64 architectures.

To create an .app bundle like in the official builds, you need to use the template located in misc/dist/macos_template.app. This process can be automated by using the generate_bundle=yes option on the last SCons command used to build export templates (so that all binaries can be included). This option also takes care of calling lipo to create an Universal 2 binary from two separate ARM64 and x86_64 binaries (if both were compiled beforehand).

Note

You also need to include support for the MoltenVK Vulkan portability library. By default, it will be linked statically from your installation of the Vulkan SDK for macOS. You can also choose to link it dynamically by passing use_volk=yes and including the dynamic library in your .appbundle:

mkdir -p macos_template.app/Contents/Frameworks cp /macOS/libs/libMoltenVK.dylib macos_template.app/Contents/Frameworks/libMoltenVK.dylib

In most cases, static linking should be preferred as it makes distribution easier. The main upside of dynamic linking is that it allows updating MoltenVK without having to recompile export templates.

You can then zip the macos_template.app folder to reproduce the macos.ziptemplate from the official Godot distribution:

zip -r9 macos.zip macos_template.app

Cross-compiling for macOS from Linux

It is possible to compile for macOS in a Linux environment (and maybe also in Windows using the Windows Subsystem for Linux). For that, you'll need to installOSXCross to be able to use macOS as a target. First, follow the instructions to install it:

Clone the OSXCross repositorysomewhere on your machine (or download a ZIP file and extract it somewhere), e.g.:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross.git "$HOME/osxcross"

  1. Follow the instructions to package the SDK:https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross#packaging-the-sdk
  2. Follow the instructions to install OSXCross:https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross#installation

After that, you will need to define the OSXCROSS_ROOT as the path to the OSXCross installation (the same place where you cloned the repository/extracted the zip), e.g.:

export OSXCROSS_ROOT="$HOME/osxcross"

Now you can compile with SCons like you normally would:

If you have an OSXCross SDK version different from the one expected by the SCons buildsystem, you can specify a custom one with the osxcross_sdk argument:

scons platform=macos osxcross_sdk=darwin15

Troubleshooting

Fatal error: 'cstdint' file not found

If you get a compilation error of this form early on, it's likely because the Xcode command line tools installation needs to be repaired after a macOS or Xcode update:

./core/typedefs.h:45:10: fatal error: 'cstdint' file not found 45 | #include | ^~~~~~~~~

Run these two commands to reinstall Xcode command line tools (enter your administrator password as needed):

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools sudo xcode-select --install

If it still does not work, try updating Xcode from the Mac App Store and try again.