Note

You are reading the documentation for an ESP-IDF release version that is end of life. The latest stable version is v5.4

Setup Toolchain for Mac OS from Scratch (Legacy GNU Make)

[中文]

Note

Since ESP-IDF V4.0, the default build system is based on CMake. This documentation is for the legacy build system based on GNU Make. Support for this build system may be removed in future major releases.

Note

Standard process for installing the toolchain is described here. See Customized Setup of Toolchain section for some of the reasons why installing the toolchain from scratch may be necessary.

Install Prerequisites

  • install pip:

    sudo easy_install pip
    
    Copy to clipboard

Note

pip will be used later for installing the required Python packages.

Compile the Toolchain from Source

  • Install dependencies:

    • Install either MacPorts or homebrew package manager. MacPorts needs a full XCode installation, while homebrew only needs XCode command line tools.

    • with MacPorts:

      sudo port install gsed gawk binutils gperf grep gettext wget libtool autoconf automake
      
      Copy to clipboard
    • with homebrew:

      brew install gnu-sed gawk binutils gperftools gettext wget help2man libtool autoconf automake
      
      Copy to clipboard

Create a case-sensitive filesystem image:

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

Mount it:

hdiutil mount ~/esp/crosstool.dmg
Copy to clipboard

Create a symlink to your work directory:

mkdir -p ~/esp
ln -s /Volumes/ctng ~/esp/ctng-volume
Copy to clipboard

Go into the newly created directory:

cd ~/esp/ctng-volume
Copy to clipboard

Download crosstool-NG and build it:

git clone https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG.git
cd crosstool-NG
git checkout esp-2021r2-patch3
git submodule update --init
./bootstrap && ./configure --enable-local && make
Copy to clipboard

Build the toolchain:

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

Toolchain will be built in ~/esp/ctng-volume/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 Step 2. Get ESP-IDF.