Compilers and associated utilities like make are not installed in OS X by default, but you can install these for free along with all of Apple's Developer Tools.
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This page is now obsolete. Please go instead to the wiki page (click on the image below): |
| 1. Install everything, not
just the defaults. 2. Install the latest version of Xcode from Apple's web site that is compatible with your operating system. For 10.4.x, that is currently version 2.4. The download is about 900 MB, so you might not want to use a dial-up connection. (For 10.3.x, I think it is 1.5. But you should update your OS to 10.4.x.) 3. Do a "Custom install" and be sure to install the X11 SDK package too, which installs all the header files and other such things you will need to compile X11-based programs. (This is now the default starting with version 2.0). You can also install this after-the-fact either from the CD or as a download. PLEASE NOTE: Sometimes Apple's X11SDK and X11 installers mess up and don't install everything. This will wreak havoc on your attempts to get fink to recognize X11.app. To avoid this pain, download Gary Kerbaugh's pkgdiff script and run it according to the description linked here. |
Apple makes a native c compiler that is based upon gcc. It comes for free with the Apple X Code (Developer Tools). For OS 10.4, you get gcc 4 and gcc 3.3. For OS 10.3, you get gcc 3.3 and gcc 3.1, and for OS 10.2, the gcc compiler versions are 3.1 and 3.3, tweaked a bit apparently for the Mac operating system. (You also get a copy of version 2.95, and can switch between them if you need to. man cc for details.) You can either get it on the OS X distribution CDs that come with 10.3, or you can get the December 2002 and August 2003 update for 10.2. which you can download it from Apple's site . In order to do that, you have to join their developer group, which is free but involves submitting a tedious form, getting a username and password, etc. You can spend a lot of time going in circles; this site is a pain to navigate.
For 10.3.x, g77 v. 3.4.3 is the default fortran compiler that comes with fink, and it can also be used with OS 10.4. OS 10.4 Xcode 2 provides the newer gfortran, but in my (limited) experience g77 3.4.3 works better. In addition,you will need to use the following complier flag syntax for Cocoa Frameworks and Apple's Blas/Lapack now:
-Wl,-framework -Wl,vecLib
Also, you will now need to use the following complier flag when linking fortran with gcc in 10.3.x, but not in 10.4:
-lcc_dynamic
I think I
have found all instances of where this is required, but be aware
that this is a ubiquitous problem.Another option: the IBM C and f77 compilers:
The only thing I have compiled with these compilers is CNS. I had some problems with over-zealous optimization when I tried the free beta test versions, so be careful.Back it up: To save yourself the pain of having to dowload the Developer Tools and X-windows installers again, I suggest you burn both sets of installer packages to a CD-RW. (The RW will allow you to make more current backups when new releases render your backup CD obsolete.) This will greatly facilitate restoration and future installations on other machines .
Richard Stallman (aka St. Ignucious) is the person who wrote gcc originally. He started the GNU Free Software Foundation and is one of the original instigators of the Free Software Movement, upon which everything here relies heavily in practice even if violated in spirit. He has a webpage that may be of interest, as he is not without an opinion or two.
In addition:
There are several useful information resources that you might want to take advantage of. These include:
1. Apple's Mailing lists. They have many, but a few that might be of specific interest are the Fortran users list, the unix porting list, the x-11 users list, and Science/technology list. Be sure to adjust your mail filters accordingly if you subscribe to these.
2. Apple's Technical Support Bulletin Boards. I've gotten a lot of help here.
3. On-line Documentation. Apple has really good on-line documentation. I find it easier than most third-party books, and this has the advantage of being up to date and free. Be sure to check out the Cocoa programming tutorials. Even an idiot like me can do this (although there is a lot I cannot do). Developer tools also includes HTML documentation that you can access locally (on your own computer).
What's in Developer Tools (X code):
From the unix perspective, the most important things in Developer tools are the gCC compiler and ancillary stuff like make, gas, etc. It also includes a bunch of other BSD stuff that you would expect to be standard on any unix platform, so be sure to install it even if you wind up using some other set of compilers (unless those instructions tell you otherwise).
In addition, Apple provides for free its whole Project Builder and Interface Builder application set. This allows any user to construct native OS X applications. The "native" language for doing this is called objective C, which is said to be a superset of C. I'm not a programmer, and it strikes me as a bit obtuse. You also have several other options including Carbon (which I think is C-based but know nothing about), a "bridge" to Java, so that you can write OS X Cocoa applications with Java instead of Objective C, similarly with Perl, and a "bridge" to AppleScript, which is an Apple-developed, supposedly user-friendly but syntactically bloated and finicky language that allows you to program many OS X applications. In addition, there is a "bridge" to python, called PyObjC, that is available via sourceforge from a third-party. In analogy to the Java bridge, it allows you to write the major coding portion of your program in python, which is the world's best scripting language (which possesses the merit of having syntax that doesn't suck), and then use all of the OS X developer tools to apply a nice interface to it. There are now other possibilities too.
