Use Homebrew (brew) package manager with HISE and Xcode version(s)

[andioak]

Just a quick tip on how to make use of the very useful package manager Homebrew for macOS. There are two major package managers for mac that I know of - Macports and Homebrew.

But Homebrew wants to install Xcode CLT (command line tools), as it sees fit. It won't take anything else than the latest version available from Apple for the macOS version you are installing it on. But I already had a version of Xcode installed and everything was running smoothly, so I ended up staging the transition via a Vmware virtual machine with a cloned set of all that was on my normal OS.

This is the procedure to use Homebrew on macOS together with whatever installation of Xcode you want to use with HISE as you are building your vst:s:

(you can use different versions of Xcode on the same OS)

1. Install Homebrew with their standard install command (--> link to brew.sh)
   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

• it will install the latest Xcode command line tools to:
  /Library/Developer/Developertools

2. install the brew package or "formulae" you wanted to install or need from Homebrew package manager system. For example, I'm using wget do fetch some stuff and sync to the web, so I'll call:
   brew install wget

3. Now it's time to reset the Xcode path to our normal /Applications/Xcode.app path, where HISE expects it:
   sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

• now HISE will build again as usual

4. When you need another package installed with Homebrew, just enter the following command:
   sudo xcode-select --switch /Library/Developer/Developertools

... followed by step nr 3 and you're set. The path for Xcode is set for the .app location you want again. Enter the path of whatever Xcode version or install you want to use to build with that one instead.

To see your system's current Xcode path use this command in terminal:
xcode-select -p or xcode-select --print-path

List over Xcode versions: https://xcodereleases.com/

If you already have Homebrew and are installing Xcode, you will have to redirect xcode command line tools to the preferred path that Homebrew wants it set to to do more package installations, by brew called "formulae". There is a big number of applications available so this will be an issue sooner or later, unless you are using Macports.

If there is a better way to handle this, please drop a line.