Install jq on macOS from source.

README.md

Install jq on macOS from source

Note: as of jq v1.7 the project offers pre-built native macOS releases for ARM64 based architechtures.

A quick n' dirty Bash script to install the following:

• autoconf.
• automake.
• libtool
• jq - from source.

The aim/need was to create an M1 (ARM64) compile of jq - which isn't wasn't (until September 2023) available via releases and avoid using Homebrew.

Tested successfully under a Apple M1 Pro MacBook running macOS Monterey 12.4.

Will likely require Xcode CLI tools. Can be installed via the following:

$ xcode-select --install

Enjoy!

Reference

• https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/jq.rb
• https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/libtool.rb
• https://gist.github.com/phpisciuneri/dce744f3cb0e407963b5
• https://gist.github.com/byronmansfield/e972caf0f423af1c84e5b57975ccca3d
• jqlang/jq#1936

install.sh

#!/bin/bash -e

INSTALL_BASE="/usr/local"

AUTOCONF_ARCHIVE="autoconf-2.71"
AUTOCONF_URL="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/autoconf/$AUTOCONF_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"

AUTOMAKE_ARCHIVE="automake-1.16.5"
AUTOMAKE_URL="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/automake/$AUTOMAKE_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"

LIBTOOL_ARCHIVE="libtool-2.4.7"
LIBTOOL_URL="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/libtool/$LIBTOOL_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"

JQ_ARCHIVE="jq-1.7"
JQ_URL="https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases/download/$JQ_ARCHIVE/$JQ_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"


# build and install autoconf
curl --location --remote-name --silent "$AUTOCONF_URL"
tar --extract --file "$AUTOCONF_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"

pushd "$AUTOCONF_ARCHIVE"
./configure --prefix="$INSTALL_BASE"
make
sudo make install
popd


# build and install automake
curl --location --remote-name --silent "$AUTOMAKE_URL"
tar --extract --file "$AUTOMAKE_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"

pushd "$AUTOMAKE_ARCHIVE"
./configure --prefix="$INSTALL_BASE"
make
sudo make install
popd


# build and install libtool
curl --location --remote-name --silent "$LIBTOOL_URL"
tar --extract --file "$LIBTOOL_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"

pushd "$LIBTOOL_ARCHIVE"
./configure --prefix="$INSTALL_BASE" --disable-dependency-tracking --enable-ltdl-install
make
sudo make install
popd


# build and install jq
curl --location --remote-name --silent "$JQ_URL"
tar --extract --file "$JQ_ARCHIVE.tar.gz"
pushd "$JQ_ARCHIVE"

./configure --prefix="$INSTALL_BASE" --disable-maintainer-mode --with-oniguruma=builtin
make
sudo make install

popd
jq --version

# done!

Really appreciate this! I used your script + https://codemagic.io/ (which runs on m1 macs by default) to get myself a prebuilt binary:
https://github.com/ciiqr/jq-macos-arm

Ah nice one @ciiqr - happy I could be of help and wasn't aware of codemagic and their use of M1 ARM build instances. 👍

And thanks for leaving a URL credit in your build.sh 😄.

Nice one! Thank you! 👍

still useful!

jq 1.7 released a few weeks back with proper apple silicon support! 🎉
https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases/tag/jq-1.7

Thanks for noting that @ciiqr 👍

FWIW - greatly simplified install.sh - and building/installing jq v1.7 - no need for all the pesky patching/tweaking to get things to compile anymore. 👍

hi after running your script JQ can run well but i found that the nodejs can not run properly...
gyp info spawn args [ 'BUILDTYPE=Release', '-C', 'build' ]
CC(target) Release/obj.target/tree_sitter/vendor/tree-sitter/lib/src/lib.o
LIBTOOL-STATIC Release/tree_sitter.a
Usage: /usr/local/bin/libtool [OPTION]... [MODE-ARG]...
Try 'libtool --help' for more information.
libtool: error: unrecognised option: '-static'

gyp info spawn args [ 'BUILDTYPE=Release', '-C', 'build', '--jobs', 8 ]
CXX(target) Release/obj.target/nortti/src/external_copy/serializer_nortti.o
CXX(target) Release/obj.target/nortti/src/isolate/allocator_nortti.o
In file included from ../src/external_copy/serializer_nortti.cc:1:
In file included from ../src/external_copy/serializer.h:2:
In file included from ../src/external_copy/external_copy.h:2:
/Users/ypy/Library/Caches/node-gyp/18.20.2/include/node/v8.h:21:10: fatal error: 'memory' file not found
#include
^~~~~~~~
In file included from ../src/isolate/allocator_nortti.cc:1:
In file included from ../src/isolate/allocator.h:2:
/Users/ypy/Library/Caches/node-gyp/18.20.2/include/node/v8.h:21:10: fatal error: 'memory' file not found

Any ideas? Seems it overwrites the default setting of CommandLineTools. Any way to rollback the changes?