[Mesa-users] MESA Install Fails on macOS Tahoe (26.0.1) - SDK Compatibility?

[William Stone]

Hi Philip, this xcode-select --reset worked for me and I am now able to get
MESA to compile. Thank you so much!

Thanks
Will

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 at 22:30, Philip Mocz <pmocz at flatironinstitute.org>
wrote:

> Hi William,
>
> Did you ever figure this out? I just upgraded to Tahoe 26.1 and had to do
> a:
>
> xcode-select --reset
>
> before I could get MESA to compile.
>
> I do get an odd warning:
>
> clang: warning: overriding deployment version from '16.0' to '26.0'
> [-Woverriding-deployment-version]
>
> which seems to be harmless.
>
> Best,
> Philip
>
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 11:26 AM Richard Townsend <townsend at astro.wisc.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I believe we have. There seem to be ongoing issues with recent Xcode
>> versions not playing well with software built using older versions.
>>
>> That said, I recently upgraded my Mac Mini M1 to Tahoe (26.0.1) and then
>> Xcode to 26.0.1 (as reported by xcodebuild -version), and — apart from some
>> annoying warning messages about overriding deployment versions) — I can
>> compile MESA (dev) without issue.
>>
>> Will, can I ask what you are setting SDKROOT to? And, what is the output
>> from the command
>>
>> xcrun --sdk macosx --show-sdk-path
>>
>> cheers,
>>
>> Rich
>>
>> > On Oct 28, 2025, at 10:57 AM, Philip Mocz <pmocz at flatironinstitute.org>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > We've seen this error before, haven't we, Rich? But maybe this time
>> it's related to Tahoe (26.0.1) ? (I still need to upgrade)
>> >
>> > On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 11:53 AM William Stone via Mesa-users <
>> mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org> wrote:
>> > Hi Rich,
>> > Thanks for getting back to me. Here is the error output starting from
>> the C compilation that failed:
>> > CC ../private/utils_c_system.c
>> > In file included from ../private/utils_c_system.c:27:
>> >
>> /Applications/mesasdk/lib/gcc/aarch64-apple-darwin20/13.3.0/include-fixed/stdio.h:81:8:
>> error: unknown type name 'FILE'
>> >    81 | extern FILE *__stdinp;
>> >       |        ^~~~
>> >
>> /Applications/mesasdk/lib/gcc/aarch64-apple-darwin20/13.3.0/include-fixed/stdio.h:82:8:
>> error: unknown type name 'FILE'
>> >    82 | extern FILE *__stdoutp;
>> >       |        ^~~~
>> >
>> /Applications/mesasdk/lib/gcc/aarch64-apple-darwin20/13.3.0/include-fixed/stdio.h:83:8:
>> error: unknown type name 'FILE'
>> >    83 | extern FILE *__stderrp;
>> >       |        ^~~~
>> >
>> > (... many similar errors related to types defined in stdio.h and
>> stdarg.h ...)
>> >
>> > fatal error: too many errors emitted, stopping compilation
>> [-ferror-limit=]
>> > make: *** [utils_c_system.o] Error 1
>> >
>> > /Users/will/MESA/mesa-24.08.1/utils/make
>> > FAILED
>> >
>> >
>> > /Users/will/MESA/mesa-24.08.1/utils
>> > ./build_and_test FAILED
>> > Just to confirm, my setup is:
>> > - macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 (Apple Silicon)
>> > - MESA r24.08.1
>> > - MESA SDK aarch64-macos-25.8.1.pkg
>> > Thanks again for looking into this,
>> > Will
>> >
>> > On Tue, 28 Oct 2025 at 15:37, Richard Townsend <townsend at astro.wisc.edu>
>> wrote:
>> > Hi Will —
>> >
>> > Can you post the actual error message that’s output to the terminal?
>> >
>> > cheers,
>> >
>> > Rich
>> >
>> > > On Oct 28, 2025, at 10:28 AM, William Stone via Mesa-users <
>> mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Hi mesa-users,
>> > > I'm new to MESA and having trouble installing it on my Apple Silicon
>> MacBook Air running the latest macOS Tahoe. The ./install script fails very
>> quickly (in about 1-2 minutes) with C compilation errors like unknown type
>> name 'FILE' when processing the utils module. It seems the main MESA
>> library (libmesa.a) isn't being built.
>> > >
>> > > My setup is as follows:
>> > > - Mac: MacBook Air (Apple Silicon/aarch64)
>> > > - OS: macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 (Build 25A362)
>> > > - Xcode Tools: Version 26.0.0.0.1.1757719676
>> > > - MESA Version: mesa-24.08.1 (from Zenodo)
>> > > - MESA SDK Version: mesasdk-aarch64-macos-25.8.1.pkg (from
>> http://user.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/static.php?ref=mesasdk)
>> > >
>> > > I've followed the standard Mac installation steps and
>> troubleshooting, including:
>> > > - Making sure Conda is deactivated.
>> > > - Setting the MESA_DIR, MESASDK_ROOT, SDKROOT, and
>> MESASDK_CLEAN_INCLUDE_PATH environment variables correctly in my
>> .bash_profile / .bashrc.
>> > > - Reinstalling the Xcode Command Line Tools.
>> > > - Deleting and reinstalling both MESA and the MESA SDK from fresh
>> downloads.
>> > >
>> > > Even after all this, the C compilation error persists and I have a
>> few questions:
>> > > 1. Is this a known issue with MESA/SDK compatibility on the new macOS
>> Tahoe (26.x)?
>> > > 2. Is there any estimate for when a MESA SDK version supporting macOS
>> Tahoe might be released?
>> > > I'm wondering if I just need to wait for an updated SDK. Any
>> information or confirmation would be greatly appreciated!
>> > > Many thanks,
>> > > Will Stone
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org
>> > >
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.mesastar.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-users__;!!Mak6IKo!L1wrnZi69PFjkWjwe_wc1tMScjSkAAUbv4aWfKzFtDFidfnK2YKzI6d-suy12ttjKlLixJBh7ztiPyHKFnTiv56I1-T4Nkc$
>> > >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Rich Townsend • Professor of Astronomy
>> > Astronomy Department • University of Wisconsin-Madison
>> > Phone: 608-262-1752 • E-mail: rhtownsend at wisc.edu
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org
>> > https://lists.mesastar.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-users
>> >
>>
>> --
>> Rich Townsend • Professor of Astronomy
>> Astronomy Department • University of Wisconsin-Madison
>> Phone: 608-262-1752 • E-mail: rhtownsend at wisc.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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