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How to Build ClickHouse on macOS

You don't have to build ClickHouse yourself!

You can install pre-built ClickHouse as described in Quick Start. Follow macOS (Intel) or macOS (Apple silicon) installation instructions.

The build works on x86_64 (Intel) and arm64 (Apple Silicon) based on macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or higher with Homebrew's vanilla Clang.

Note

It is also possible to compile with Apple's XCode apple-clang, but it's strongly discouraged.

Install Homebrew​

First install Homebrew

For Apple's Clang (discouraged): Install XCode and Command Line Tools​

Install the latest XCode from App Store.

Open it at least once to accept the end-user license agreement and automatically install the required components.

Then, make sure that the latest Command Line Tools are installed and selected in the system:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
sudo xcode-select --install

Install Required Compilers, Tools, and Libraries​

brew update
brew install ccache cmake ninja libtool gettext llvm gcc binutils grep findutils nasm

Checkout ClickHouse Sources​

git clone --recursive git@github.com:ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git
# ...alternatively, you can use https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git as the repo URL.

Apple uses a case-insensitive file system by default. While this usually does not affect compilation (especially scratch makes will work), it can confuse file operations like git mv. For serious development on macOS, make sure that the source code is stored on a case-sensitive disk volume, e.g. see these instructions.

Build ClickHouse​

To build using Homebrew's vanilla Clang compiler (the only recommended way):

cd ClickHouse
mkdir build
export PATH=$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin:$PATH
cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin/clang++ -S . -B build
cmake --build build
# The resulting binary will be created at: build/programs/clickhouse

To build using XCode native AppleClang compiler in XCode IDE (this option is only for development builds and workflows, and is not recommended unless you know what you are doing):

cd ClickHouse
rm -rf build
mkdir build
cd build
XCODE_IDE=1 ALLOW_APPLECLANG=1 cmake -G Xcode -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DENABLE_JEMALLOC=OFF ..
cmake --open .
# ...then, in XCode IDE select ALL_BUILD scheme and start the building process.
# The resulting binary will be created at: ./programs/Debug/clickhouse

Caveats​

If you intend to run clickhouse-server, make sure to increase the system’s maxfiles variable.

Note

You’ll need to use sudo.

To do so, create the /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist file with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
        "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>limit.maxfiles</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>launchctl</string>
      <string>limit</string>
      <string>maxfiles</string>
      <string>524288</string>
      <string>524288</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ServiceIPC</key>
    <false/>
  </dict>
</plist>

Give the file correct permissions:

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist

Validate that the file is correct:

plutil /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist

Load the file (or reboot):

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist

To check if it’s working, use the ulimit -n or launchctl limit maxfiles commands.

Running ClickHouse server​

cd ClickHouse
./build/programs/clickhouse-server --config-file ./programs/server/config.xml