build fails on MacOS: xcframework ghostty-vt failure

[dolmen]

$ git log -1 --pretty=oneline
4611ac67cadf64a5706b9b9b928ff775f5309df0 (HEAD -> main, origin/main, origin/HEAD) Merge pull request #3 from mitchellh/push-ynozqtxqtoqp
$ zig version
0.15.2
$ cmake --version
cmake version 4.3.1

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).
$ make clean build
rm -rf build
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
-- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 17.0.0.17000603
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Found zig: /opt/homebrew/bin/zig
-- Configuring done (7.7s)
-- Generating done (0.0s)
-- Build files have been written to: /Users/omengue/go/src/github.com/mitchellh/go-libghostty/build
cmake --build build
gmake[1]: Entering directory '/Users/omengue/go/src/github.com/mitchellh/go-libghostty/build'
[100%] Building libghostty-vt via zig build...
install
└─ xcframework ghostty-vt failure
error: the following command exited with code 1 (expected exited with code 0):
xcodebuild -create-xcframework -library ./.zig-cache/o/651ac833a2581f54c078ef67427881f9/libghostty-vt.a -headers ./.zig-cache/o/9bc9de634b378ed19ead5f8a118a7266 -output /Users/omengue/go/src/github.com/mitchellh/go-libghostty/build/_deps/ghostty-src/zig-out/lib/ghostty-vt.xcframework

Build Summary: 56/58 steps succeeded; 1 failed
install transitive failure
└─ xcframework ghostty-vt failure

error: the following build command failed with exit code 1:
.zig-cache/o/0d2d2958d2bcd056603ca8f2bfa1f75d/build /opt/homebrew/Cellar/zig/0.15.2_1/bin/zig /opt/homebrew/Cellar/zig/0.15.2_1/lib/zig /Users/omengue/go/src/github.com/mitchellh/go-libghostty/build/_deps/ghostty-src .zig-cache /Users/omengue/.cache/zig --seed 0xe92902ea -Z939b7c6c467344e9 -Demit-lib-vt -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
gmake[3]: *** [_deps/ghostty-build/CMakeFiles/zig_build_lib_vt.dir/build.make:74: _deps/ghostty-src/zig-out/lib/libghostty-vt.0.1.0.dylib] Error 1
gmake[3]: *** Deleting file '_deps/ghostty-src/zig-out/lib/libghostty-vt.0.1.0.dylib'
gmake[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:107: _deps/ghostty-build/CMakeFiles/zig_build_lib_vt.dir/all] Error 2
gmake[1]: *** [Makefile:136: all] Error 2
gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/Users/omengue/go/src/github.com/mitchellh/go-libghostty/build'
make: *** [build/.ghostty-built] Error 2

[mitchellh]

Please run the command yourself, dig into this, and work on finding a solution. We test in CI on macOS here and in addition to that it works on my local machine. There isn't enough information here to determine the root cause.

[dolmen]

I don't have the full Xcode installed, but just the command line build tools.

Is the build of xcframework really necessary for building libghostty?

An agent generated this patch which skips building xcframework, and the build pass:

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 46255d1..f6215a1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,5 +5,6 @@ include(FetchContent)
 FetchContent_Declare(ghostty
     GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty.git
     GIT_TAG 7421b4b13f87e101d4bbcedd4da84886ceae4e7b
+    PATCH_COMMAND sed -i '' "s/if (builtin.os.tag.isDarwin() and config.target.result.os.tag.isDarwin()) {/if (false) {/" build.zig
 )
 FetchContent_MakeAvailable(ghostty)

[0xDVC]

I don't have the full Xcode installed, but just the command line build tools.

Is the build of xcframework really necessary for building libghostty?

An agent generated this patch which skips building xcframework, and the build pass:

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 46255d1..f6215a1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,5 +5,6 @@ include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(ghostty
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty.git
GIT_TAG 7421b4b13f87e101d4bbcedd4da84886ceae4e7b

• PATCH_COMMAND sed -i '' "s/if (builtin.os.tag.isDarwin() and config.target.result.os.tag.isDarwin()) {/if (false) {/" build.zig
  )
  FetchContent_MakeAvailable(ghostty)

this would break on GNU(sed) builds. linux interprets '' as the file path which isn't what you want

[0xDVC]

The root cause of this failure is that Ghostty's upstream build.zig script hardcodes Zig to execute xcodebuild -create-xcframework whenever the build target is darwin(macOS).

for a developer on macOS Command Line Tools, they risk running into that same build failure. I guess it works for you @mitchellh because you run on GitHub runners which have the full Xcode installed.

[0xDVC]

@mitchellh this would be the fix on upstream. ghostty/ghostty

[dolmen]

How could we fix CI on macOS so it runs with just the Command line tools, not the full Xcode?

[0xDVC]

How could we fix CI on macOS so it runs with just the Command line tools, not the full Xcode?

You don't need to fix CI. I made a pr for that fix. ghostty-org/ghostty#12267

[0xDVC]

@dolmen this issue should be resolved now:

❯ make clean build
rm -rf build
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
-- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 21.0.0.21000099
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Found zig: /opt/homebrew/bin/zig
-- Configuring done (36.2s)
-- Generating done (0.0s)
-- Build files have been written to: /Users/cryptdvc/Downloads/go-libghostty/build
cmake --build build
gmake[1]: Entering directory '/Users/cryptdvc/Downloads/go-libghostty/build'
[ 14%] Building libghostty-vt for x86_64-linux-gnu...
[ 14%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt_linux-amd64
[ 28%] Building libghostty-vt for aarch64-linux-gnu...
[ 28%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt_linux-arm64
[ 42%] Building libghostty-vt for x86_64-macos...
[ 42%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt_macos-amd64
[ 57%] Building libghostty-vt for aarch64-macos...
[ 57%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt_macos-arm64
[ 71%] Building libghostty-vt for x86_64-windows-gnu...
[ 71%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt_windows-amd64
[ 85%] Building libghostty-vt for aarch64-windows-gnu...
[ 85%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt_windows-arm64
[100%] Building libghostty-vt via zig build...
[100%] Built target zig_build_lib_vt