Build system setup macOS

Tested with macOS 10.15.7, Xcode 12.1 build 12A7403.
Tested with macOS 11.6, Xcode 13.0 build 13A233, arm64 kernel.

Obtain & install Xcode or CLT:

1. Obtain Xcode¹ from here. Note: installer file download is over/near 5 GB, and needs 12+ GB space.
2. If you prefer to not obtain Xcode, then one of the alternative is:
   • obtain Command-Line-Tools¹ (CLT). It is also known as Command Line Developer Tools. Note: installer download is under/near 300 MB, and needs around 2.5 GB space.
   • inside Terminal¹ utility/app, run this command to load CLT: xcode-select --install

Unhide hidden files/folders in macOS:

• We need to view full filename, file extensions, all files & directories, etc including hidden ones, very accurately, so that there is lesser mistakes.
• Finder is very similar to Windows-Explorer file-browser app/tool: in macOS > start or click on the Finder app > in left side/pane, select Applications > then scroll down & go into Utilities subfolder > then click on Terminal or Terminal.app to start it. macOS “Terminal” is very similar to Windows Command-Prompt, a command-line interface (CLI) tool.
• Run below command inside Terminal:

  defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true

• then you must reboot Mac-computer OR run (any one of the) below command:

  /usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

  or, run just this:

  /usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/killall Finder

  or, just this:

  sudo killall Finder

• then Finder will auto start, and all hidden files+folders will by-default begin to be shown to user in macOS Finder.
• in macOS Finder or inside any other file browsing window in macOS, user can also press below THREE buttons altogether ONCE to show all HIDDEN files/folders:
  • [Command⌘] + [Shift⇧] + [.>]
  • if user press-es above three buttons again, file-browsing-window will HIDE the HIDDEN files/folders.
• By default in macOS, Finder will keep most of the file's extension hidden. But we need to see all file's extension, so we can be sure & not make mistake. To view all file's extension, do below steps:
  • in macOS > start “Finder” app > goto main menu > Finder > Preferences > Advanced > select the Show All Filename Extensions option.

Install any one of the (3rd-party) package manager software in macOS:

1. Homebrew : Note: it shares user's usage/private data with Ggl.
2. MacPorts¹.

Prepare a dedicated case-sensitive filesystem for OpenWRT build/compile:

• We will be using a sparsebundle to allow us to have a case sensitive filesystem.
• The size that you provide will be the max size of the volume for working with OpenWrt

  hdiutil create -size 20g -type SPARSE -fs "Case-sensitive HFS+" -volname OpenWrt OpenWrt.sparseimage
  hdiutil attach OpenWrt.sparseimage

• Change to the OpenWrt volume and create the necessary directories:

  cd /Volumes/OpenWrt

Install the necessary packages with below command:

• if you have homebrew then run this:

  brew install coreutils findutils gawk grep gnu-getopt gnu-tar wget diffutils git-extras quilt svn make ncurses pkg-config

• if you have MacPorts then run this:

  sudo port install coreutils findutils gawk grep getopt gnutar wget diffutils git-extras quilt subversion gmake ncurses pkgconfig

Create a file called env.sh in /Volumes/OpenWrt
This is to allow the utilities (aka: packages) we just installed to be used instead of the macOS provided ones.

• For x86_64 Apple hardware, & when you have homebrew, then create env.sh file with below content:

  PATH="/usr/local/opt/make/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
  PATH="/usr/local/opt/gnu-getopt/bin:$PATH"
  PATH="/usr/local/opt/gettext/bin:$PATH"
  PATH="/usr/local/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
  PATH="/usr/local/opt/findutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
  export PATH

• For x86_64 Apple hardware, & when you have MacPorts, then create env.sh file with below content:

  PATH="/opt/local/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
  PATH="/opt/local/libexec/coreutils:$PATH"
  PATH="/opt/local/bin/svn-tools:$PATH"
  PATH="/opt/local/bin:$PATH"
  PATH="/opt/local/sbin:$PATH"
  export PATH

For arm64 (Apple Silicon(M1)) Apple hardware:

PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/make/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/gnu-getopt/bin:$PATH"
PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/gettext/bin:$PATH"
PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/findutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
export PATH

Check homebrew official page or MacPorts-guide if you need more information related to PATH variable

When developing, do source /Volumes/OpenWrt/env.sh to set up the path variable. This leaves your system in a clean state without symlinking.

Now proceed normally.

For darwin/arm64 and linux/aarch64 golang package (feed “packages”) golang C-bootstrap method doesn't work, but it is possible to use external golang bootstrap. On MacOS arm64 the easiest way is to install golang using brew and use installed golang as bootstrap:

brew install golang

Then set CONFIG_GOLANG_EXTERNAL_BOOTSTRAP_ROOT=“/opt/homebrew/opt/go/libexec” in .config file