Build Instructions for macOS

Notice: Be aware that there is no official support for macOS. You can still try to build Zeal manually, but that is not guaranteed to work.

Please avoid reporting issues you encounter on macOS, unless they are also reproducible on Linux or Windows.

Prerequisites

1. Install Xcode from the AppStore. If you installed the Xcode command line tools earlier (e.g. by installing Homebrew), run this:

$ sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

2. Install Homebrew to install/compile the dependencies and Zeal itself.

Installing Zeal from Homebrew

1. Compile the latest development version of Zeal from Homebrew

$ brew tap koraysels/personal
$ brew install --HEAD zeal

Brew will automatically install the dependency qt@5 and libarchive for you

2. Zeal is now available to be run. If you want you can move it to your Applications folder (not necessary if you run it through Spotlight):

Apple Silicon

$ cp -Rp /opt/homebrew/Cellar/zeal/*/Zeal.app /Applications/

Intel Macs

$ cp -Rp /usr/local/Cellar/zeal/*/Zeal.app ~/Applications/

Installing Zeal manually

1. Install Qt and Libarchive dependencies and setup environment variables

   brew install qt@6
   brew install libarchive
   brew install vulkan-headers
   export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix qt@6):$(brew --prefix libarchive):$(brew --prefix vulkan-headers)"

2. Compile the latest development version of Zeal manually

   git clone https://github.com/zealdocs/zeal.git
   cd zeal
   mkdir build
   cmake -S . -B build
   cmake --build build --config Release --parallel

3. Zeal is now available to be run, you can move it to your Applications folder:

   cp -Rp (your-zeal-clone-path)/build/Zeal.app ~/Applications/

Thanks go out to markwu for providing the Homebrew formula to build Zeal. For detailed (and ongoing) discussion on building Zeal on macOS, see this issue.