Building expe3000 on macOS

This guide provides detailed instructions for setting up your development environment and compiling SDL3 along with the expe3000 project on macOS.

1. Prerequisites: Development Tools

You need to have the Xcode Command Line Tools and Homebrew installed.

1. Install Xcode Command Line Tools: Open your terminal and run:

   xcode-select --install
   

2. Install Homebrew (if not already installed):

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
   

3. Install Build Tools:

   brew install cmake pkg-config git
   

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2. Option A: Fast Installation (Homebrew)

Since SDL3 is now available in Homebrew, this is the simplest method:

brew install sdl3 sdl3_image sdl3_ttf

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3. Option B: Compiling SDL3 from Source

If you need the latest features or a specific version, follow these steps to build from source.

SDL3 Core

1. Clone and Build:

   git clone https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL.git
   cd SDL
   mkdir build && cd build
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
   make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)
   sudo make install
   cd ../..
   

SDL3_image

1. Install dependencies:

   brew install libpng jpeg-turbo libwebp
   

2. Clone and Build:

   git clone https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image.git
   cd SDL_image
   mkdir build && cd build
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
   make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)
   sudo make install
   cd ../..
   

SDL3_ttf

1. Install dependencies:

   brew install freetype harfbuzz
   

2. Clone and Build:

   git clone https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_ttf.git
   cd SDL_ttf
   mkdir build && cd build
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
   make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)
   sudo make install
   cd ../..
   

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4. Compiling expe3000

1. Navigate to the project directory.

2. Configure and Build: We use an “out-of-source” build to keep the root directory clean. If you installed ninja, you can use it for faster builds.

   # Configure
   cmake -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
   
   # Build
   cmake --build build
   

5. Running the Program

The executable expe3000 will be created in the build directory.

To run it:

./expe3000 ../experiment.csv

Note on Permissions: macOS may ask for permission to access certain folders or record the screen/input. Ensure you grant these if prompted for the experiment to function correctly.