macOS Build Prerequisites (CMake)

This guide describes how to build a no-OS project for a macOS host using the CMake build system, which is the only supported build flow for this platform.

Note

This is a build guide for the macOS platform itself — i.e. for producing executables that run on macOS. It is not a guide for cross-building any other no-OS platform from a Mac host. No cross-compiling is supported: the toolchain set up here only produces macOS executables for the host's own architecture.

The macOS platform targets applications that run natively on a Mac. For projects that use the USB2PMB2 FTDI adapter (mac-usb2pmb2 board), the ftd2xx library must be set up separately — see the ftd2xx build guide.

Apple Silicon and Intel Macs

No manual architecture selection is required. CMakeLists.txt does not pin CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES or otherwise force a target architecture, so CMake resolves the Xcode Command Line Tools' clang on PATH and builds natively for whichever architecture the host is running — arm64 on Apple Silicon, x86_64 on Intel.

Supported boards

Preset / Board	Description
`mac-host`	Native macOS host
`mac-usb2pmb2`	macOS host with USB2PMB2 adapter (FT2232HQ, ftd2xx library)

Prerequisites

Xcode Command Line Tools

The Xcode Command Line Tools provide the Clang compiler and standard build utilities. Install them by running:

xcode-select --install

Follow the on-screen prompts. Verify the compiler is available:

clang --version

CMake and Ninja

Install CMake 3.28+ and Ninja via Homebrew:

brew install cmake ninja

Verify:

cmake --version
ninja --version

Python 3

Python 3 is available via Homebrew or the official installer:

brew install python3

The build system creates a virtual environment under .no_os_venv on first configure and installs the required dependencies (kconfiglib) automatically.

Listing build combinations

From the no-OS repository root, list all valid macOS combinations:

python3 tools/scripts/no_os_build.py list --board mac-host
python3 tools/scripts/no_os_build.py list --board mac-usb2pmb2

Each row is a PROJECT VARIANT BOARD PLATFORM tuple that can be fed directly to the build subcommand.

Building a project

Recommended: the build helper

cd no-OS

python3 tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
    --project <project> --variant <variant> --board mac-usb2pmb2

Replace mac-usb2pmb2 with mac-host for projects that do not use the FTDI adapter.

Useful options:

--clean / --fresh — remove or refresh the build directory.
-j N / --jobs N — parallel compile jobs.
--dry-run — print the cmake commands without running them.

The executable is placed in build/<project>-<variant>-<board>/build/<project>.

Manual CMake invocation

You can also drive CMake directly from a Terminal:

cmake --preset mac-usb2pmb2 \
      -B build-<project>-<variant>-mac-usb2pmb2 \
      -DPROJECT_DEFCONFIG=<project>/<variant>.conf

cmake --build build-<project>-<variant>-mac-usb2pmb2 --target <project>

The built executable is placed in build-<project>-<variant>-mac-usb2pmb2/build/<project>.

Running

Run the executable directly from a Terminal:

./build/<project>-<variant>-<board>/build/<project>

IIO projects

Projects built with the iio_example variant start an IIOD server on the host. Connect to it from any IIO client using the IP backend:

iio_info -u ip:127.0.0.1

Example: building max14916 basic

Note

This example uses the mac-usb2pmb2 board which requires the ftd2xx library. Set it up first following the ftd2xx build guide.

cd no-OS

python3 tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
    --project max14916 --variant basic --board mac-usb2pmb2

./build/max14916-basic-mac-usb2pmb2/build/max14916