Setup Toolchain for Mac OS from Scratch (CMake)

Note

This is documentation for the CMake-based build system which is currently in preview release. If you encounter any gaps or bugs, please report them in the Issues section of the ESP-IDF repository.

The CMake-based build system will become the default build system in ESP-IDF V4.0. The existing GNU Make based build system will be deprecated in ESP-IDF V5.0.

Package Manager

To set up the toolchain from scratch, rather than downloading a pre-compiled toolchain, you will need to install either the MacPorts or homebrew package manager.

MacPorts needs a full XCode installation, while homebrew only needs XCode command line tools.

Install Prerequisites

  • install pip:

    sudo easy_install pip

  • install pyserial:

    sudo pip install pyserial

  • install CMake & Ninja build:

    • If you have HomeBrew, you can run:

      brew install cmake ninja

    • If you have MacPorts, you can run:

      sudo port install cmake ninja

Compile the Toolchain from Source

  • Install dependencies:

    • with MacPorts:

      sudo port install gsed gawk binutils gperf grep gettext wget libtool autoconf automake make

    • with homebrew:

      brew install gnu-sed gawk binutils gperftools gettext wget help2man libtool autoconf automake make

Create a case-sensitive filesystem image:

hdiutil create ~/esp/crosstool.dmg -volname "ctng" -size 10g -fs "Case-sensitive HFS+"

Mount it:

hdiutil mount ~/esp/crosstool.dmg

Create a symlink to your work directory:

cd ~/esp
ln -s /Volumes/ctng crosstool-NG

Download crosstool-NG and build it:

cd ~/esp
git clone -b xtensa-1.22.x https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG.git
cd crosstool-NG
./bootstrap && ./configure --enable-local && make install

Build the toolchain:

./ct-ng xtensa-esp32-elf
./ct-ng build
chmod -R u+w builds/xtensa-esp32-elf

Toolchain will be built in ~/esp/crosstool-NG/builds/xtensa-esp32-elf. Follow instructions for standard setup to add the toolchain to your PATH.

Next Steps

To carry on with development environment setup, proceed to section Get ESP-IDF.