Install Xcode - https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

Before you start this process, open Xcode, go to settings, accounts, and sign in with your Apple ID. If you are a Mozilla developer, this is an Apple ID associated with your LDAP account.

conda env create -f env.yml
conda activate vpn

See here for conda environment instructions.

Install extra conda packages

./scripts/macos/conda_install_extras.sh

Your Xcode install comes with a copy of the MacOS-SDK. We need to tell the conda environment where to find it.

Find the sdk path

xcrun --sdk macosx --show-sdk-path

If xcrun didn't work, default paths where you probably find your SDK:

• Default Xcode-command-line tool path: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.<VersionNumber>.sdk
• Default Xcode.app path: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk

Add it to the conda env

conda env config vars set SDKROOT=<sdk path>

Reactivate your conda env

conda activate vpn

You can view your set variables

conda env config vars list

The variable config step only needs to be done once. When you next want to start building the VPN, all you need to do is activate your conda environment (conda activate vpn).

Get a static build of Qt made built in our CI.

https://firefox-ci-tc.services.mozilla.com/api/index/v1/task/mozillavpn.v2.mozillavpn.cache.level-3.toolchains.v3.qt-mac.latest/artifacts/public%2Fbuild%2Fqt6_mac.zip

Unzip the folder and remember the location for the configure step.

Make the build directory

mkdir build-mac

Configure

cmake -S . -B build-mac -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<Qt unzipped path>/macos/lib/cmake/

Compile

cmake --build build-mac -j <number of processes to use e.g. 8>

After building, you can run the app with

open ./build-mac/src/Mozilla\ VPN.app

However, opening as above will not give you log output and will not let you connect to the VPN. To overcome this, run two terminals. In the first, run

sudo ./build-mac/src/Mozilla\ VPN.app/Contents/MacOS/Mozilla\ VPN macosdaemon

In the second, run

./build-mac/src/Mozilla\ VPN.app/Contents/MacOS/Mozilla\ VPN

For most dev tasks (everything except working on the macosdaemon), you can leave the first terminal with the macosdaemon running and rebuild your client in the second with your new changes and test them.

Use the --target pkg to build the MacOS installer.

This will produce an unsigned installer package at build-mac/macos/pkg/MozillaVPN-unsigned.pkg and a signed installer at build-mac/macos/pkg/MozillaVPN-signed.pkg if a valid installer signing identity was provided in the INSTALLER_SIGN_IDENTITIY variable at configuration time.

You need to tell Xcode where to find the versions of rust and go that we have installed in our conda environment.

First find and go to the Xcode /usr/bin directory. The xcrun step you ran earlier will give you a hint where to look. It is usually, /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/.

cd /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/

Now activate your conda environment

conda activate vpn

Finally link go and rust

sudo ln -s $(which go)
sudo ln -s $(which cargo)
sudo ln -s $(which rustc)

This step needs to be repeated each time Xcode updates.

Use the same configure command above and add -GXcode:

cmake -S . -B build-mac -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<Qt unzipped path>/macos/lib/cmake/ -GXcode

This will generate an Xcode project file at build-mac/Mozilla VPN.xcodeproj which can be opened by Xcode:

open build-mac/Mozilla\ VPN.xcodeproj

Once Xcode has opened the project, select the mozillavpn target and start the build.

If you're building with Xcode and want your built VPN client to connect to the VPN network you'll need to install a release copy of the VPN client which you can download from here.