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Build Instructions OS X

Console OS > Wiki > Source Code > Build Instructions (OS X)


This page is a placeholder for planned efforts to get Console OS with Android to compile on Apple's OS X. To be clear, this guide does not work yet.

While Android technically supports building AOSP inside OS X, there are considerable build differences between Console OS and mainline AOSP that prevent building using the standard guide.

When time permits, we hope to build out this guide in-depth - and eventually, enable a simple-to-follow guide for compiling Console OS inside of OS X.

Configuring Build Environment

To start, you need to be running OS X 10.8 through 10.10. Building Android on OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) is not possible today.

  • This is because OS X 10.11 actively blocks the use of Xcode 5.1.1 and earlier - which is necessary to build Android currently.

You must have an HFS+ Case-sensitive file system. Most Mac drives are formatted to be case-insensitive. Note this is not the same as having file names with upper and lowercase letters. If refers to how UNIX-based commands interpret filenames - it can only be changed by reformatting the drive, and choosing Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive) in either journaled, or non-journaled forms.

  • You can create a disk image to work around this, but for best performance, you may want to reformat your drive.
  • Encryption with FileVault 2 does not appear to impact building, but we haven't fully tested it.

You will need to download Xcode, both the current version, and Xcode 5.1.1. The current Xcode is available via the Mac App Store, whereas Xcode 5.1.1 is available from the Apple Developer Support archives.


As mentioned above, this guide is a work-in-progress. It is not complete, and should not be relied on.