Doc: improve directions for building on macOS.

tglsfdc · tglsfdc · commit 2cdce1e8484b · 2021-01-22T18:59:05.000-05:00
In light of recent discussions, we should instruct people to install Apple's command line tools; installing Xcode is secondary. Also, fix sample command for finding out the default sysroot, as we now know that the command originally recommended can give a result that doesn't match your OS version. Also document the workaround to use if you really don't want configure to select a sysroot at all. Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/20210119111625.20435-1-james.hilliard1@gmail.com
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
@@ -2523,6 +2523,17 @@ PHSS_30849  s700_800 u2comp/be/plugin library Patch
     <secondary>installation on</secondary>
    </indexterm>
 
+   <para>
+    To build <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> from source
+    on <productname>macOS</productname>, you will need to install Apple's
+    command line developer tools, which can be done by issuing
+<programlisting>
+xcode-select --install
+</programlisting>
+    (note that this will pop up a GUI dialog window for confirmation).
+    You may or may not wish to also install Xcode.
+   </para>
+
    <para>
     On recent <productname>macOS</productname> releases, it's necessary to
     embed the <quote>sysroot</quote> path in the include switches used to
@@ -2539,7 +2550,7 @@ make PG_SYSROOT=<replaceable>/desired/path</replaceable> all
 </programlisting>
     To find out the appropriate path on your machine, run
 <programlisting>
-xcodebuild -version -sdk macosx Path
+xcrun --show-sdk-path
 </programlisting>
     Note that building an extension using a different sysroot version than
     was used to build the core server is not really recommended; in the
@@ -2553,6 +2564,19 @@ xcodebuild -version -sdk macosx Path
 <programlisting>
 ./configure ... PG_SYSROOT=<replaceable>/desired/path</replaceable>
 </programlisting>
+    This would primarily be useful to cross-compile for some other
+    macOS version.  There is no guarantee that the resulting executables
+    will run on the current host.
+   </para>
+
+   <para>
+    To suppress the <option>-isysroot</option> options altogether, use
+<programlisting>
+./configure ... PG_SYSROOT=none
+</programlisting>
+    (any nonexistent pathname will work).  This might be useful if you wish
+    to build with a non-Apple compiler, but beware that that case is not
+    tested or supported by the PostgreSQL developers.
    </para>
 
    <para>
