Building OpenROAD on a MacBook M1 macOS Tahoe using homebrew.

[stefanottili]

I've been building OR using homebrew ever since I got a MacBook M1 in Dec 2021.

Over the last four years I've only heard of a couple other users to attempt to use a Mac and I believe they gave up.
brew upgrade frequently updated packages to versions that broke the build for periods of time.
Issues with other packages, notably fmt/spdlog/or-tools/lemon, disappeared over the years.

Here's the Dec 2025 list of changes that allow me to build OR on MacBook M1/homebrew.
These might not be the "right way of doing things", but they "work for me".

The etc/DependenyInstaller.sh doesn't install everything, a couple of packages have to be installed manually.

swig@4.4.0 doesn't work for OR, I had to find/install swig using a 4.2.1 formula and pin it.
OR doesn't compile with the default tcl-tk@9, use brew install tcl-tk@8.
You also need qt@5

~/.zshrc

export CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/flex/include"
export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$(brew --prefix or-tools)
export PATH=/opt/homebrew/opt/qt@5/bin:$PATH
export PATH="$(brew --prefix bison)/bin:$(brew --prefix flex)/bin:$(brew --prefix tcl-tk@8)/bin:${PATH}"

let cmake find tcl-tk@8 lib

diff --git a/cmake/FindTCL.cmake b/cmake/FindTCL.cmake
index a76cf37a46..cf7aadd0b9 100644
--- a/cmake/FindTCL.cmake
+++ b/cmake/FindTCL.cmake
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ set(TCL_POSSIBLE_NAMES tcl87 tcl8.7
 if (NOT TCL_LIB_PATHS)
   if (CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
     set(TCL_LIB_PATHS /usr/local/lib
+      /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib
       /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk/lib
       /usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib
       )

brew install xxx these three packages manually and add cmake link_directories.
-D_GNU_SOURCE is needed, it's also set somewhere, but doesn't take on Mac M1.

diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 0909cc0c19..433367c751 100755
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -162,7 +162,12 @@ if (NOT ALLOW_WARNINGS)
   )
 endif()
 
+link_directories(/opt/homebrew/opt/zstd/lib)
+link_directories(/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/lib)
+link_directories(/opt/homebrew/opt/yaml-cpp/lib)
+
 add_compile_options(
+  -D_GNU_SOURCE
   -Wall
   -Wmissing-field-initializers
   -Wredundant-decls

boost@1.89 doens't have Boost::system any more, but it's also not needed for dst.

diff --git a/src/dst/CMakeLists.txt b/src/dst/CMakeLists.txt
index ec003656c2..839896609f 100644
--- a/src/dst/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/dst/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ project(dst
   LANGUAGES CXX
 )
-find_package(Boost CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS serialization system thread)
+find_package(Boost CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS serialization thread)
 swig_lib(NAME      dst
          NAMESPACE dst
          I_FILE    src/Distributed.i
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ target_link_libraries(dst_lib
     ${TCL_LIBRARY}
     ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES}
     Boost::serialization
-    Boost::system
     Boost::thread
 )

[maliberty]

Are those the only deltas required? It wouldn't be hard to add them to cmake.

Have you tried bazel?

[stefanottili]

bazel build -c opt //:openroad

fails to compile external/org_gnu_readline and then every single xxx/swig.cc with the same _GNU_SOURCE issue that plagues the cmake build. bazel is an even bigger mystery to me then cmake ...

I hope that bazel clean --expunge clean's up after itself, but I'm not even sure of that.

external/org_gnu_readline/bind.c:873:2: error: call to undeclared function 'close'; ISO C99 and later do not support implicit function declarations [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
  873 |         close (file);

ERROR: OpenROAD-flow-scripts/tools/OpenROAD/src/ant/BUILD:44:11: Compiling src/ant/swig.cc failed: (Exit 1): cc_wrapper.sh failed: error executing CppCompile command (from target //src/ant:ui) external/toolchains_llvm++llvm+llvm_toolchain/bin/cc_wrapper.sh -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE '--target=aarch64-apple-macosx' -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -fstack-protector -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fcolor-diagnostics -Wall ... (remaining 980 arguments skipped)

Use --sandbox_debug to see verbose messages from the sandbox and retain the sandbox build root for debugging
In file included from bazel-out/darwin_arm64-opt/bin/src/ant/swig.cc:1829:
In file included from external/boost.stacktrace+/include/boost/stacktrace.hpp:15:
In file included from external/boost.stacktrace+/include/boost/stacktrace/frame.hpp:38:
In file included from external/boost.stacktrace+/include/boost/stacktrace/safe_dump_to.hpp:217:
external/boost.stacktrace+/include/boost/stacktrace/detail/collect_unwind.ipp:33:2: error: "Boost.Stacktrace requires `_Unwind_Backtrace` function. Define `_GNU_SOURCE` macro or `BOOST_STACKTRACE_GNU_SOURCE_NOT_REQUIRED` if _Unwind_Backtrace is available without `_GNU_SOURCE`."
   33 | #error "Boost.Stacktrace requires `_Unwind_Backtrace` function. Define `_GNU_SOURCE` macro or `BOOST_STACKTRACE_GNU_SOURCE_NOT_REQUIRED` if _Unwind_Backtrace is available without `_GNU_SOURCE`."
      |  ^
1 error generated.

[maliberty]

@QuantamHD @calewis any ideas on the above?

[maliberty]

How does removing system from dst work? It is used throughout the code.

[maliberty]

nvm, I see it was switched to header only

[stefanottili]

as of Jan 16 2026, OR compiles with swig >= 4.4.0, so pinning swig 4.2.1 is no longer necessary.

[maliberty]

Where is it pinned?

[stefanottili]

By default a homebrew upgrade will install the latest and greatest, in case of swig, that’s currently 4.4.1.
In order to be able to build OR, til yesterday one needed 4.2.1, so I had to find/download that formula and then „pin“ it, so that an upgrade wouldn’t install the latest and greatest.

[jerome-friendlygiant]

Hi @stefanottili , I am trying to install OpenRoad with the OpenRoad-flow-scripts on MacOS with home-brew. I've edited the various files as above.
I cd build ; cmake -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF .. But I encountered an error on CUDD. Might you know how to install this CUDD_LIB ? or can I remove it from the CMakeList?

-- OpenROAD version: v2.0-28143-g7c57b1b222
-- System name: Darwin
-- Compiler: AppleClang 17.0.0.17000603
-- Build type: RELEASE
-- Install prefix: /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/install/OpenROAD
-- C++ Standard: 20
-- C++ Standard Required: ON
-- C++ Extensions: OFF
-- LTO/IPO is disabled
-- Performing Test C_COMPILER_SUPPORTS__-std=c++17
-- Performing Test C_COMPILER_SUPPORTS__-std=c++17 - Failed
-- Performing Test CXX_COMPILER_SUPPORTS__-std=c++17
-- Performing Test CXX_COMPILER_SUPPORTS__-std=c++17 - Success
-- TCL library: /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib
-- TCL header: TCL_HEADER-NOTFOUND
-- Found SWIG: /opt/homebrew/bin/swig (found suitable version "4.4.1", minimum required is "4.0")
-- Using SWIG >= 4.4.1 -flatstaticmethod flag for python
-- boost: 1.85.0
-- spdlog: 1.17.0
CMake Warning at src/CMakeLists.txt:244 (message):
  spdlog: SPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL=ON


-- STA version: 2.7.0
-- STA git sha: 638c03a1c9a9b093fc94a49d3e0c7a7a3fdf001e
-- System name: Darwin
-- Compiler: AppleClang 17.0.0.17000603
-- Build type: RELEASE
-- Build CXX_FLAGS: -O3 -DNDEBUG
-- Install prefix: /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/install/OpenROAD
-- TCL library: /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib
-- TCL header: TCL_HEADER-NOTFOUND
-- TCL readline library: NOT FOUND
-- TCL readline header: NOT FOUND
-- CUDD library: not found
-- SSTA: 0
-- Found SWIG: /opt/homebrew/bin/swig (found suitable version "4.4.1", minimum required is "3.0")
-- STA library: /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/OpenROAD/build/libOpenSTA.a
-- STA executable: /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/OpenROAD/build/sta
-- Found OR-Tools: /opt/homebrew/opt/or-tools/lib/cmake/ortools (version: 9.15.9999)
-- TCL library: /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib
-- TCL header: TCL_HEADER-NOTFOUND
-- Found OpenMP: TRUE (found version "5.1")
-- Found OpenMP: TRUE (found version "5.1")
-- GUI is enabled
-- Could NOT find VTune (missing: VTune_LIBRARIES VTune_INCLUDE_DIRS)
-- TCL library: /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib
-- TCL header: TCL_HEADER-NOTFOUND
-- TCL readline disabled
-- Tcl Extended disabled
-- Python3 enabled
-- Configuring done (3.8s)
CMake Error: The following variables are used in this project, but they are set to NOTFOUND.
Please set them or make sure they are set and tested correctly in the CMake files:
CUDD_LIB
    linked by target "OpenSTA" in directory /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/OpenROAD/src/sta

-- Generating done (0.9s)
CMake Generate step failed.  Build files cannot be regenerated correctly

[stefanottili]

brew install cudd

-- CUDD library: /opt/homebrew/lib/libcudd.dylib
-- CUDD header: /opt/homebrew/include/cudd.h

[jerome-friendlygiant]

Yes I think I succeeded building open road. Well I use the ./build_openroad.sh and there doesn't seem to be any other error. I run Yosys --version and openroad --help and I can see some valid output.
What do you mean by full build/incremental build times? I am on a MacBook Air M3

[stefanottili]

rm -r build; cmake ..; time make -j 8 install

When I use OpenROAD/build.sh, I get
-- Install prefix: /usr/local
which is not where I would want it to be installed. It fails with missing permissing anyways.

When I use build_openroad.sh --local --latest from the OpenROAD-flow-scripts directory, make install nicely puts it here:
-- Install prefix: xxx/OpenROAD-flow-scripts/tools/install/OpenROAD

Also, I found that in order to get updated to the latest and greatest git sources, git pull is not sufficient. I use
git pull https://github.com/The-OpenROAD-Project/OpenROAD.git --recurse-submodules

[stefanottili]

MacBook M1
time make -j8
release build, LTO, all tests: cpu 22:20.96 total
release build, LTO, ENABLE_TESTS=OFF: cpu 12:22.55 total

[jerome-friendlygiant]

MacBook M3

cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
make -j 8 install  

(I forgot to sudo, so it didn't copy to my /usr/local , hope that part isn't the bottleneck for time)
release build, no LTO, all tests: cpu 7:38.21 total
release build, no LTO, ENABLE_TESTS=OFF: cpu 15:05.14 total

Not sure why without tests is longer. I checked the CMakeCache.txt and

//Enable OpenROAD tests
ENABLE_TESTS:BOOL=ON
```

This is ON for the "all tests" and this is OFF for the "ENABLE_TESTS=OFF" above

How do I enable this LTO? 

[stefanottili]

CMakeLists.txt:128 option(LINK_TIME_OPTIMIZATION "Flag to control link time optimization: on by default" ON)

You might want to use CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to coax CMAKE into setting the install directory to something other then /usr/local

[stefanottili]

also:

1. as of Jan 25 OR cmake builds the tests without issues, but with -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF you'll save build time.

2. link time optimization is on by default for me, this slows the release build compile time.
   -- LTO/IPO is enabled
   The executable is supposed to be faster. I've not compared runtimes with/without.

3. I've not found a way to have the tcl readline installed/used, but openroad works without it and it doesn't seem to care about the tcl-header either.
   -- TCL library: /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib
   -- TCL header: TCL_HEADER-NOTFOUND
   -- TCL readline disabled
   -- Tcl Extended disabled

[jerome-friendlygiant]

In the OpenRoad root folder, I ran a cmake --build build -j, and I ran into an error with gtests. Might you have encountered this before and know what are possible solutions?

In file included from /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/OpenROAD/src/tst/src/IntegratedFixture.cpp:4:
In file included from /Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/OpenROAD/src/tst/include/tst/IntegratedFixture.h:15:
/Users/jerometeo/workspace/digital/orfs/tools/OpenROAD/src/tst/include/tst/fixture.h:12:10: fatal error: 'gtest/gtest.h' file not found
   12 | #include "gtest/gtest.h"
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 error generated.
gmake[2]: *** [src/tst/CMakeFiles/tst.dir/build.make:93: src/tst/CMakeFiles/tst.dir/src/IntegratedFixture.cpp.o] Error 1
gmake[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:4147: src/tst/CMakeFiles/tst.dir/all] Error 2
gmake[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

[stefanottili]

this might help: brew install googletest

[jerome-friendlygiant]

yes this works, OpenRoad can pass the build stage.