Compiling On macOS

Newbie Intro

Hi! If you're new to Terminal and perhaps here just to get a version of Cockatrice you can run on an older macOS, let me explain a few things quickly.

Terminal is an application pre-installed on all Macs that allows deeper control of your operating system (OS) through the use of written commands. It can be dangerous to use if you don't know what you're doing, but all the commands here are safe and do not involve any deleting of data so don't worry. You can copy and paste the commands from this page and press enter to use them, or type them very carefully.
Homebrew is a package manager. Basically, Cockatrice needs a few different packages or "dependencies" in order to function (e.g. one called "Qt" for you to actually be able have menus and click around). Homebrew is a easy way to collect all these packages so you can shove them all together at the end. By installing Homebrew, you will have access to more commands in Terminal; it won't appear in Applications or be openable like other apps you may have installed in the past.
In this case and in a grossly simplified way, Compiling just means taking our packages and source code, shoving it together (with a compiler), then getting our Cockatrice apps at the end. Apps can also be referred to as "executables/exes" or "binaries".

Disclaimer and requirements: There is no guarantee the instructions below will work for older OS versions, you may get errors and get stuck. You should try to install the newest version of macOS that your computer is compatible with incase of errors. You may need a bit of free hard drive space to install all the packages and tools, but the packages won't add up to much at the end (2gb including Xcode?). If you're worried about clogging your computer with all these packages don't worry, they will be only accessible through Terminal or hidden folders and won't effect performance. If you're looking to compile a version quickly, unfortunately it can take several hours to a day to install everything and compile if you're on an old OS, have no packages installed beforehand, and maybe run into some errors on the way. If at some point you decide to uninstall the dependencies and/or homebrew, there are uninstall guides on Google and your built version of Cockatrice shouldn't be affected.

Compiling

Option 1: using dependencies from homebrew (recommended)

To compile Cockatrice on macOS you need to first install the dependencies manager, Homebrew.
Install the dependencies, this may take a long time.
- Just Cockatrice: brew install cmake protobuf qt@5 git
  - User Comment: If you are compiling on a version of macOS that is older than what Cockatrice currently supports, you will likely run into errors installing these packages as Homebrew won't support it either. For High Sierra at least, I used the command Homebrew recommends i.e. brew install --build-from-source [the package you want] and used it for protobuf, qt5, git, and their respective dependency packages you'll be told about when trying to install them. Also, if you're not able to automatically download Xcode Command Line Tools when prompted, go here (you will need an Apple account) and download the newest version that supports your OS. For High Sierra, "Command Line Tools (macOS 10.13) for Xcode 10.1" worked fine for me. Expect all these packages to take several hours to install in total and an 1hr+ build time in step 5.
- Cockatrice & Servatrice: brew install cmake protobuf qt@5 git libgcrypt --with-mysql
  - Note that this requires compiling mysql, which can take a long time. It may be easier to use the servatrice docker container instead.
Download the Cockatrice source code:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Cockatrice/Cockatrice
cd Cockatrice

Determine the location of Qt on your system.
- ls /usr/local/Cellar/qt@5/ will give you a number (5.9.2, 5.12.2, etc.)
Make the installer and open it

mkdir build
cd build
QT5_DIR="/usr/local/Cellar/qt@5/NUMBER_FOUND_IN_STEP_4"
cmake .. -DWITH_SERVER=0 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$QT5_DIR/  # Use -DWITH_SERVER=1 to include servatrice.
make -j
make package
open Cockatrice *.dmg

You can then install the application from the dmg as normal. If you want to share the dmg around, you can find it in ~/Users/username/Cockatrice/build/.

Note: The created dmg and it's binaries should be compatible with all versions of MacOS higher than the minimum supported OS of the version of cmake you used.

Option 2: using dependencies from vcpkg (advanced, used in Github actions, recommended for macOS versions <= 13):

Homebrew only treats older macOS version as first class citizens while they are officially supported by Apple, afterward the support level will gradually decay over time. If you have installed an OS version that is not supported anymore by Apple, then we recommend using vcpkg for most dependencies. The exception is Qt, which we recommend installing via aqtinstall instead.

Install aqtinstall:

pip3 install -U --upgrade aqtinstall

Install qt via aqtinstall:

mkdir <desired install path>
cd <desired install path>
aqt install-qt mac desktop 6.9.2 clang_64 -m qtimageformats qtmultimedia qtwebsockets

This will take a couple of minutes or more, depending on your internet speed. Take note of the desired path, you will use it later :)

Download the Cockatrice source code with the vcpkg git submodule (notice --recurse-submodules):

cd ~
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Cockatrice/Cockatrice
cd Cockatrice

Build with -DUSE_VCPKG=1

mkdir build
cd build
export MACOS_CERTIFICATE_NAME=- # in order to be able to run locally, we need to use an adhoc signature, which is done by passing "-"
cmake .. -DWITH_SERVER=0 -DUSE_VCPKG=1 -DQTDIR=<path from step 2>/6.9.2/macos  # Use -DWITH_SERVER=1 to include servatrice.
make package -j
open Cockatrice*.dmg

Advanced

About using Qt's official packages

If you plan to use Qt's official packages from https://www.qt.io/download-open-source/ to build servatrice, you'll get an error when building the package. This is due to the fact that the Qt's Mysql plugin is built with an hardcoded path that needs to be fixed depending on where MySql / MariaDB has been installed on your box.

Example: if you installed MariaDB using Homebrew, you can fix the plugin running this command:

install_name_tool -change \
    /opt/local/lib/mysql55/mysql/libmysqlclient.18.dylib \
    /usr/local/lib/libmysqlclient.18.dylib \
    /Users/foo/Qt/5.5/clang_64/plugins/sqldrivers/libqsqlmysql.dylib

This command will fix the qsqlmysql plugin pointing it from the old, hardcoded path in /opt/ to the correct path in /usr/local/.

Welcome to the Cockatrice Wiki

Technical

Customizing Cockatrice

Servatrice Server

Helping Cockatrice

Feel free to contact and connect with us on Discord and Reddit!