How to install Valgrind on macOS Mojave(10.14) with Homebrew?

Katherine Elyon picture Katherine Elyon · Oct 10, 2018 · Viewed 37k times · Source

I tried to install Valgrind with brew install Valgrind and got :

valgrind: This formula either does not compile or function as expected
on macOS versions newer than Sierra due to an upstream
incompatibility. 
Error: An unsatisfied requirement failed this build.

I tried brew install --HEAD Valgrind.

Instead, after successfully installing the dependencies autoconf, automake and libtool, when it tries to install valgrind, I get a configure error:

Valgrind works on Darwin 10.x, 11.x, 12.x, 13.x, 14.x, 15.x, 16.x and
17.x (Mac OS X 10.6/7/8/9/10/11 and macOS 10.12/13)

My OS is macOS Mojave(10.14), so does it mean that I can't install a functioning Valgrind with Homebrew presently?

Answer

alex.m picture alex.m · Feb 22, 2019

A (rather painful) install from source workaround based on this patch, this post and this answer.

$ git clone https://github.com/Echelon9/valgrind.git
$ cd valgrind
$ git checkout feature/v3.14/macos-mojave-support-v2
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure --prefix=/where/you/want/it/installed --enable-only64bit
$ make

If you get the following error: No rule to make target '/usr/include/mach/mach_vm.defs’, you will need to run xcode-select --install. You might need to install Xcode from the app store if you don't already have it. Once that's done, you will need to edit the coregrind/Makefile:

Search for:

am__append_19 = \
    /usr/include/mach/mach_vm.defs \
        /usr/include/mach/task.defs \
        /usr/include/mach/thread_act.defs \
        /usr/include/mach/vm_map.defs

After double checking the below folder exists, prefix every line with:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk

End result should be:

am__append_19 = \
    /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/mach/mach_vm.defs \
        /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/mach/task.defs \
        /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/mach/thread_act.defs \
        /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/mach/vm_map.defs

Now run make again and the includes should be found. But that doesn't necessarily mean it will compile. I got the following error:

vg_preloaded.c:136:19: error: expected ';' before 'const'
 __private_extern__ const char *__crashreporter_info__ = "Instrumented by Valgrind " VERSION;

A fix for this is to add the following line:

#define __private_extern__ extern

to the following files:

  • coregrind/m_syscall.c
  • coregrind/m_syswrap/syswrap-darwin.c
  • coregrind/vg_preloaded.c

Finally, you need to cross your fingers hoping no other errors show up:

$ make
$ make install