Appearance

Building MAVSDK on macOS ​

This guide explains how to build MAVSDK from source on macOS systems.

Requirements ​

The build requirements are:

  • XCode Command Line Tools
  • CMake
  • Git

Install Build Tools ​

First install XCode Command line tools:

bash
xcode-select --install

Then install Homebrew and use it to install CMake:

bash
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install cmake

Getting the Source ​

Download the source using git:

bash
git clone https://github.com/mavlink/MAVSDK.git
cd MAVSDK
git submodule update --init --recursive

Building the MAVSDK library on macOS ​

Debug Build ​

For development, use the debug build:

bash
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -Bbuild -S.
cmake --build build -j8

Release Build ​

For production use, build with optimizations enabled:

bash
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -Bbuild -S.
cmake --build build -j8

Installation ​

System-wide Installation ​

To install system-wide in /usr/local:

bash
sudo cmake --build build --target install

Local Installation ​

To install to a local folder, e.g. install:

bash
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install -Bbuild -S.
cmake --build build --target install

Build for iOS ​

To build for real iOS devices on macOS:

bash
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_MAVSDK_SERVER=ON -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=tools/ios.toolchain.cmake -DPLATFORM=OS -Bbuild/ios -S.
cmake --build build/ios

Build for the iOS simulator on macOS:

bash
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_MAVSDK_SERVER=ON -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=tools/ios.toolchain.cmake -DPLATFORM=SIMULATOR64 -Bbuild/ios_simulator -S.

Build Options ​

During the configure step you can set various flags using -DFLAG=Value:

  • CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE: Choose between Debug and Release build
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX: Specify directory to install library artifacts
  • BUILD_SHARED_LIBS: Set to ON for dynamic libraries (.dylib), OFF for static libraries (.a)
  • SUPERBUILD: Set to OFF to use system dependencies instead of third party dependencies
  • CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH: Set path where dependencies can be found if SUPERBUILD is OFF
  • BUILD_MAVSDK_SERVER: Set to ON to build mavsdk_server
  • BUILD_WITHOUT_CURL: Set to ON to build without CURL support
  • ASAN: Set to ON to enable address sanitizer
  • UBSAN: Set to ON to enable undefined behavior sanitizer
  • LSAN: Set to ON to enable leak sanitizer
  • WERROR: Set to ON to treat warnings as errors

Troubleshooting ​

Git Submodules Out of Date ​

If you encounter build issues, try updating the submodules:

bash
git submodule update --recursive