HOWTO: Building on Mac OS X Sequoia

[hughperkins]

This is changing from a bug to a 'how to'. Skip to last post or so for how to build on Mac M4 Sequoia. Note: IN PROGRESS.

Describe the bug

• running python tests/run_tests.py fails, with gateway crash
• pytest -svx tests/python/test_native_functions.py fails with Unknown attribute kind (86) (Producer: 'APPLE_1_1700.0.13.3_0'

To Reproduce

Using a Macbook Air M4 with Sequoia:

• Firstly, install and build as per https://docs.taichi-lang.org/docs/dev_install
  • note that you'll need to use the patch in [bug] [misc] [mac] Fix cannot name an alias template, https://github.com/taichi-dev/taic… #8684 to run the build successfully
• Then try either of:

python tests/run_tests.py

or:

pytest -svx tests/python/test_native_functions.py

The latter gives a more informative error I feel.

• for python tests/run_tests.py -k 'abs[': https://gist.github.com/hughperkins/0b56b89f93e76d37d228f84a139fbb70
• for pytest ... native_functions.py: https://gist.github.com/hughperkins/3f4600a7f7f64022e59b49fe405f51d0

(Note that crashes are very general. I just choose one particular test, so it runs faster, and gives less spammy output)

Additional comments
If possible, please also consider attaching the output of command ti diagnose. This produces the detailed environment information and hopefully helps us diagnose faster.

https://gist.github.com/hughperkins/675d5e74c2d249e71613b9fdc6c3b8f5

If you have local commits (e.g. compile fixes before you reproduce the bug), please make sure you first make a PR to fix the build errors and then report the bug.

[hughperkins]

Looks like arch=ti.gpu works, but not arch=ti.cpu:

[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ python -c 'import taichi as ti; ti.init()'
[Taichi] version 1.8.0, llvm 15.0.7, commit 0c41277f, osx, python 3.10.17
[Taichi] Starting on arch=arm64
[W 04/26/25 10:25:17.201 642187] [llvm_context.cpp:load@263] Bitcode loading error message:
Unknown attribute kind (86) (Producer: 'APPLE_1_1700.0.13.3_0' Reader: 'LLVM 15.0.7')
[E 04/26/25 10:25:17.201 642187] [llvm_context.cpp:load@265] Failed to load bitcode=/Users/hugh/git/taichi/python/taichi/_lib/runtime/runtime_arm64.bc


Program aborted due to an unhandled Error:
Unknown attribute kind (86) (Producer: 'APPLE_1_1700.0.13.3_0' Reader: 'LLVM 15.0.7')
Abort trap: 6
[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ python -c 'import taichi as ti; ti.init(arch=ti.gpu)'
[Taichi] version 1.8.0, llvm 15.0.7, commit 0c41277f, osx, python 3.10.17
[Taichi] Starting on arch=metal
[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ python -c 'import taichi as ti; ti.init(arch=ti.cpu)'
[Taichi] version 1.8.0, llvm 15.0.7, commit 0c41277f, osx, python 3.10.17
[Taichi] Starting on arch=arm64
[W 04/26/25 10:25:45.849 642740] [llvm_context.cpp:load@263] Bitcode loading error message:
Unknown attribute kind (86) (Producer: 'APPLE_1_1700.0.13.3_0' Reader: 'LLVM 15.0.7')
[E 04/26/25 10:25:45.849 642740] [llvm_context.cpp:load@265] Failed to load bitcode=/Users/hugh/git/taichi/python/taichi/_lib/runtime/runtime_arm64.bc


Program aborted due to an unhandled Error:
Unknown attribute kind (86) (Producer: 'APPLE_1_1700.0.13.3_0' Reader: 'LLVM 15.0.7')
Abort trap: 6

[hughperkins]

So actually this seems more general: arch=ti.cpu simply does not run at all perhaps in master on M4. But actually, with official build, cpu runs ok for me 🤔

(taichi) ~/git/taichi-play (main|…7) $ python test_cpu.py
[Taichi] version 1.7.3, llvm 15.0.7, commit 5ec301be, osx, python 3.10.16
[Taichi] Starting on arch=arm64

[hughperkins]

Maybe a mismatch between my system compiler and the llvm being used during test running?

[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ ~/.cache/ti-build-cache/llvm15-m1-nozstd/bin/llvm-dis python/taichi/_lib/runtime/runtime_arm64.bc -o - | head -n 20
/Users/hugh/.cache/ti-build-cache/llvm15-m1-nozstd/bin/llvm-dis: error: Unknown attribute kind (86) (Producer: 'APPLE_1_1700.0.13.3_0' Reader: 'LLVM 15.0.7')
[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ clang
clang    clang++  clangd
[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ llvm-g
llvm-g++  llvm-gcc
[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:taichi hugh$ clang --version
Apple clang version 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.3)
Target: arm64-apple-darwin24.4.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin

[hughperkins]

Maybe we simply upgrade to llvm 20? 🤔 🙈

[hughperkins]

Soo... I tried downloading clang+llvm 15.x, from https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases/download/llvmorg-15.0.7/clang+llvm-15.0.7-arm64-apple-darwin22.0.tar.xz

Then building like this:

export CLANG15=~/Downloads/clang+llvm-15.0.7-arm64-apple-darwin22.0
export TAICHI_CMAKE_ARGS="-DCLANG_EXECUTABLE=${CLANG15}/bin/clang \
    -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CLANG15}/bin/clang++ \
    -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=${HOME}/.cache/ti-build-cache/sccache-v041/bin/sccache \
    -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=${HOME}/.cache/ti-build-cache/sccache-v041/bin/sccache"

And that might work, if we don't care about Metal (but I do...). In a Metal world, well, it starts wanting all sorts of things which aren't defined/declared in clang+llvm:

[Taichi Build] Hughs-MacBook-Air:build hugh$ /Users/hugh/.cache/ti-build-cache/sccache-v041/bin/sccache /Users/hugh/Downloads/clang+llvm-15.0.7-arm64-apple-darwin22.0/bin/clang++  -I/Users/hugh/.cache/ti-build-cache/mambaforge/envs/3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/numpy/core/include -I/Users/hugh/git/taichi -I/Users/hugh/git/taichi/external/SPIRV-Cross -I/Users/hugh/git/taichi/external/spdlog/include -I/Users/hugh/git/taichi/external/glad/include -I/Users/hugh/git/taichi/external/glfw/include -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -DTI_ISE_NONE -std=c++17 -fsized-deallocation -Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wno-shorten-64-to-32 -Wall  -Werror  -Wno-ignored-attributes  -Wno-nullability-completeness  -Wno-unused-private-field  -Wno-unneeded-internal-declaration  -Wno-unqualified-std-cast-call  -Wno-unused-but-set-variable  -DTI_ARCH_ARM -DTI_PASS_EXCEPTION_TO_PYTHON -DTI_INCLUDED -fno-objc-arc -DTI_WITH_LLVM -DTI_WITH_METAL -DTI_WITH_METAL -O3 -DNDEBUG -std=gnu++17 -arch arm64 -isysroot /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.4.sdk -mmacosx-version-min=15.0 -fPIC -fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden -MD -MT taichi/rhi/metal/CMakeFiles/metal_rhi.dir/metal_device.mm.o -MF taichi/rhi/metal/CMakeFiles/metal_rhi.dir/metal_device.mm.o.d -o taichi/rhi/metal/CMakeFiles/metal_rhi.dir/metal_device.mm.o -c /Users/hugh/git/taichi/taichi/rhi/metal/metal_device.mm
In file included from /Users/hugh/git/taichi/taichi/rhi/metal/metal_device.mm:1:
In file included from /Users/hugh/git/taichi/taichi/rhi/metal/metal_device.h:12:
In file included from /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.4.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Headers/Foundation.h:9:
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.4.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Headers/NSObjCRuntime.h:626:74: error: unknown type name 'NSUInteger'
FOUNDATION_EXPORT const char *NSGetSizeAndAlignment(const char *typePtr, NSUInteger * _Nullable sizep, NSUInteger * _Nullable alignp);
                                                                         ^
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.4.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Headers/NSObjCRuntime.h:626:104: error: unknown type name 'NSUInteger'
FOUNDATION_EXPORT const char *NSGetSizeAndAlignment(const char *typePtr, NSUInteger * _Nullable sizep, NSUInteger * _Nullable alignp);
                                                                                                       ^
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.4.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Headers/NSObjCRuntime.h:642:24: error: unknown type name 'NSInteger'
typedef NS_CLOSED_ENUM(NSInteger, NSComparisonResult) {

Anything prefixed with NS is clearly "NeXTStep", Mac stuff, and I'm going to assume that it's because we are building metal stuff here.

So, the following options appear available to me, for a Mac build:

• disable Metal
• figure out a way to somehow 'hack' the bitcode so it doesn't have the option (86) that seems to choke llvm 15
• upgrade to llvm 17+... (likely llvm 20, since there's already specific demand for that LLVM 15 IS OLD #8674

[hughperkins]

Ok, I got metal to build, but I'lll rename this issue to something about building on mac m4 sequoia. To get metal to build:

• use this branch https://github.com/hughperkins/taichi/tree/hp/mac-15-sequoia-m4
• download clang+llvm 15.0.7 from https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases/download/llvmorg-15.0.7/clang+llvm-15.0.7-arm64-apple-darwin22.0.tar.xz into ~/Downloads
• using Finder, uncompress the downloaded clang+llvm file
• run build process as far as having done ./build.py --shell
• define env vars like:

export CLANG15=~/Downloads/clang+llvm-15.0.7-arm64-apple-darwin22.0
export TAICHI_CMAKE_ARGS="-DCLANG_EXECUTABLE=${CLANG15}/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${CLANG15}/bin/clang++ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=${HOME}/.cache/ti-build-cache/sccache-v041/bin/sccache -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=${HOME}/.cache/ti-build-cache/sccache-v041/bin/sccache"

I think that might be everything 🤔

Update:

• cocoa.cpp building too now 🙌 (very hackily... but builds)
• whoa, it built and ran 🙌