https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds

Self-contained Emacs.app builds for macOS, with native-compilation support.
https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds

binary download emacs macos macos-app nightly nightly-build

Last synced: 15 days ago
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Self-contained Emacs.app builds for macOS, with native-compilation support.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds
• Owner: jimeh
• Created: 2021-05-08T01:32:04.000Z (over 3 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2024-10-24T05:06:51.000Z (21 days ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-10-24T13:55:47.203Z (20 days ago)
• Topics: binary, download, emacs, macos, macos-app, nightly, nightly-build
• Language: Go
• Homepage: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/releases
• Size: 479 KB
• Stars: 349
• Watchers: 7
• Forks: 9
• Open Issues: 13
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        


  





  Emacs Builds





  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  





  

    Self-contained Emacs.app builds for macOS, with native-compilation support.

  



## Features

- Self-contained Emacs.app application bundle, with no external dependencies.

- Native compilation ([gccemacs][]), only in Emacs 28.x and later builds.

- Native JSON parsing via libjansson.

- SVG rendering via librsvg.

- Various image formats are supported via macOS native image APIs.

- Xwidget-webkit support is enabled, allowing access to a embedded WebKit-based

  browser with `M-x xwidget-webkit-browse-url`.

- Native XML parsing via libxml2.

- Dynamic module loading.

- Includes the [fix-window-role][], [system-appearance][], and

  [round-undecorated-frame][] patches from the excellent [emacs-plus][] project.

- Emacs source is fetched from the [emacs-mirror/emacs][] GitHub repository.

- Build creation is transparent and public through the use of GitHub Actions,

  allowing anyone to inspect git commit SHAs, full source code, and exact

  commands used to produce a build.

- Emacs.app is signed with a developer certificate and notarized by Apple.

- Uses [build-emacs-for-macos][] to build the self-contained application bundle.

[build-emacs-for-macos]: https://github.com/jimeh/build-emacs-for-macos

[gccemacs]: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GccEmacs

[fix-window-role]:

  https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus/blob/master/patches/emacs-28/fix-window-role.patch

[system-appearance]:

  https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus/blob/master/patches/emacs-28/system-appearance.patch

[round-undecorated-frame]:

  https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus/blob/master/patches/emacs-29/round-undecorated-frame.patch

[emacs-plus]: https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus

[emacs-mirror/emacs]: https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs

## System Requirements

- macOS 13 Ventura or later for Apple Silicon builds.

- macOS 12 Monterey or later for Intel builds, which can run on Apple Silicon

  via Rosetta2.

- Xcode Command Line Tools to use native compilation in Emacs, available since

  28.x.

## Installation

### Manual Download

See the [Releases][] page to download latest builds, or [here][latest] for the

latest stable release.

Nightly builds of Emacs are for the most part just fine, but if you don't like

living too close to the edge, see issue [#7 Known Good Nightly Builds][7] for a

list of recent nightly builds which have been actively used by a living being

for at least a day or two without any obvious issues.

[releases]: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/releases

[latest]: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/releases/latest

[7]: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/issues/7

### Homebrew Cask

1. Install the

   [`jimeh/emacs-builds`](https://github.com/jimeh/homebrew-emacs-builds)

   Homebrew tap:

   ```

   brew tap jimeh/emacs-builds

   ```

2. Install one of the available casks:

   - `emacs-app` — Latest stable release of Emacs.

     ```

     brew install --cask emacs-app

     ```

   - `emacs-app-pretest` — Latest pretest build of Emacs.

     ```

     brew install --cask emacs-app-pretest

     ```

   - `emacs-app-nightly` — Build of Emacs from the `master` branch, updated

     every night.

     ```

     brew install --cask emacs-app-nightly

     ```

   - `emacs-app-monthly` — Build of Emacs from the `master` branch, updated on

     the 1st of each month. These includes native Apple Silicon support.

     ```

     brew install --cask emacs-app-monthly

     ```

   - `emacs-app-good` for the latest known good nightly build listed on [#7][7]:

     ```

     brew install --cask emacs-app-good

     ```

[7]: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/issues/7

## Apple Silicon

Native builds for Apple Silicon is supported, but currently GitHub's M1-based

Actions Runners are prohibitively expensive for nightly builds. Intel builds

though do work on Apple Silicon machines via Rosetta2, with a minor performance

impact.

Due to the costs, Apple Silicon builds are for now only scheduled for the 1st of

each month. The `emacs-app-monthly` Homebrew Cask will always be pointing at a

release that includes Intel and Apple Silicon builds.

Builds for stable releases of Emacs will also include both Intel and Apple

Silicon builds.

### Costs

At time of writing (2023-11-21), an average Apple Silicon build uses around 17

minutes of billable time, at a cost of $0.16 USD per minute, that comes out to

around $2.72 per build. I am considering enabling sponsorship on this repository

in an effort to cover the costs for more frequent Apple Silicon builds, and will

update here if/when I have any news.

## Use Emacs.app as `emacs` CLI Tool

### Installed via Homebrew Cask

The cask installation method sets up CLI usage automatically by exposing a

`emacs` command. However it will launch Emacs into GUI mode. To instead have

`emacs` in your terminal open a terminal instance of Emacs, add the following

alias to your shell setup:

```bash

alias emacs="emacs -nw"

```

### Installed Manually

Builds come with a custom `emacs` shell script launcher for use from the command

line, located next to `emacsclient` in `Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin`.

The custom `emacs` script makes sure to use the main

`Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs` executable from the correct path, ensuring it

finds all the relevant dependencies within the Emacs.app bundle, regardless of

if it's exposed via `PATH` or symlinked from elsewhere.

To use it, simply add `Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin` to your `PATH`. For

example, if you place Emacs.app in `/Applications`:

```bash

if [ -d "/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin" ]; then

  export PATH="/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin:$PATH"

  alias emacs="emacs -nw" # Always launch "emacs" in terminal mode.

fi

```

If you want `emacs` in your terminal to launch a GUI instance of Emacs, don't

use the alias from the above example.

## Build Process

Building Emacs is done using the [jimeh/build-emacs-for-macos][] build script,

executed within a GitHub Actions [workflow][]. This is why macOS 11.x (Big Sur)

or later is required, as it's the oldest version of macOS available in GitHub

Actions.

[jimeh/build-emacs-for-macos]: https://github.com/jimeh/build-emacs-for-macos

[workflow]:

  https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/blob/main/.github/workflows/build.yml

Full history for all builds is available on GitHub Actions [here][actions].

Build logs are only retained by GitHub for 90 days though.

[actions]: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/actions

Nightly builds are scheduled for 23:00 UTC every night, based on the latest

commit from the `master` branch of the [emacs-mirror/emacs][] repository. This

means a nightly build will only be produced if there have been new commits since

the last nightly build.

## Application Signing / Trust

As of June 21st, 2021, all builds are fully signed and notarized. The signing

certificate used is: `Developer ID Application: Jim Myhrberg (5HX66GF82Z)`

To verify the application signature and notarization, you can use `spctl`:

```bash

$ spctl -vvv --assess --type exec /Applications/Emacs.app

/Applications/Emacs.app: accepted

source=Notarized Developer ID

origin=Developer ID Application: Jim Myhrberg (5HX66GF82Z)

```

All builds also come with a SHA256 checksum file, which itself can be double

checked against the SHA256 checksum log output from the packaging step of the

GitHub Actions workflow run which produced the build.

[emacs-mirror/emacs]: https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs

## Issues / To-Do

Please see [Issues][] for details of things to come, or to report issues.

[issues]: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds/issues

## News / Recent Changes

### 2023-11-22 — Apple Silicon builds, drop macOS 11 support

Apple Silicon builds are now available, but limited to stable releases, and

nightly builds on the 1st of each month due to the cost of using M1-based

runners on GitHub Actions. Apple Silicon builds also require macOS 13 Ventura,

as that is the oldest macOS version available on M1-based runners.

Additionally, Intel builds minimum required macOS version has been increased

from macOS 11 Big Sur, to macOS 12 Monterey. This was needed as Homebrew no

longer supports Big Sur, leading to very lengthy and error prone builds as all

Homebrew dependencies had to be installed from source.

If dropping support for macOS 11 turns out to be a big issue, it may be possible

to offer macOS 11 compatible builds on a less frequent schedule similar to what

we're doing with Apple Silicon.