docs/mac_build_instructions.md

# Checking out and building Chromium for Mac

There are instructions for other platforms linked from the
[get the code](get_the_code.md) page.

## Instructions for Google Employees

Are you a Google employee? See
[go/building-chrome](https://goto.google.com/building-chrome) instead.

[TOC]

## System requirements

*   A Mac, Intel or Arm.
    ([More details about Arm Macs](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/main/docs/mac_arm64.md).)
*   [Xcode](https://developer.apple.com/xcode/). Xcode comes with...
*   The macOS SDK. Run

    ```shell
    $ ls `xcode-select -p`/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs
    ```

    to check whether you have it, and what version you have.
    `mac_sdk_official_version` in [mac_sdk.gni](../build/config/mac/mac_sdk.gni)
    is the SDK version used on all the bots and for
    [official builds](https://source.chromium.org/search?q=MAC_BINARIES_LABEL&ss=chromium),
    so that version is guaranteed to work. Building with a newer SDK usually
    works too (please fix or file a bug if it doesn't).

    Building with an older SDK might also work, but if it doesn't then we won't
    accept changes for making it work.

    The easiest way to get the newest SDK is to use the newest version of Xcode,
    which often requires using the newest version of macOS. We don't use Xcode
    itself much, so if you're know what you're doing, you can likely get the
    build working with an older version of macOS as long as you get a new
    version of the macOS SDK on it.
*   An APFS-formatted volume (this is the default format for macOS volumes).

## Install `depot_tools`

Clone the `depot_tools` repository:

```shell
$ git clone https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/tools/depot_tools.git
```

Add `depot_tools` to the end of your PATH (you will probably want to put this in
your `~/.bash_profile` or `~/.zshrc`). Assuming you cloned `depot_tools` to
`/path/to/depot_tools` (note: you **must** use the absolute path or Python will
not be able to find infra tools):

```shell
$ export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/depot_tools"
```

## Get the code

Create a `chromium` directory for the checkout and change to it (you can call
this whatever you like and put it wherever you like, as long as the full path
has no spaces):

```shell
$ mkdir chromium && cd chromium
```

Run the `fetch` tool from `depot_tools` to check out the code and its
dependencies.

```shell
$ caffeinate fetch chromium
```