Difficulties Building OpenROAD - M4 Pro Mac

[gipalob]

Hello- I've been trying to build OpenROAD via the Homebrew DependencyInstaller.sh script, and have been having issues with lemon-graph similar to this past post from January: https://github.com/The-OpenROAD-Project/OpenROAD/discussions/6474#discussion-7789531

However, my issues are manifesting differently. First, I had issues with CMake,

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:1 (CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED):
  Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 has been removed from CMake.

  Update the VERSION argument <min> value.  Or, use the <min>...<max> syntax
  to tell CMake that the project requires at least <min> but has been updated
  to work with policies introduced by <max> or earlier.

  Or, add -DCMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 to try configuring anyway.


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

After brew tap the-openroad-project/lemon-graph, I was able to add the flag -DCMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 to
'lemon-graph.rb' to solve that issue. It then reported:

-- Could NOT find ILOG (missing: ILOG_CPLEX_LIBRARY ILOG_CPLEX_INCLUDE_DIR) 
-- Could NOT find COIN (missing: COIN_INCLUDE_DIR)

So, I installed coin-or and added -DLEMON_ENABLE_ILOG=FALSE, -DCOIN_INCLUDE_DIR=/opt/homebrew/include/coin, and -DCOIN_LIBRARY=/opt/homebrew/lib/libCbc.dyli

Then, it complained again, this time about being unable to find GPLK, solved with brew install gplk. However, this has just caused another brick-wall:

-- Found PythonInterp: /opt/homebrew/bin/python3.13 (found version "3.13.3")
-- Found Wget: /opt/homebrew/bin/wget
-- Found Doxygen: /opt/homebrew/bin/doxygen (found version "1.13.2") found components: doxygen dot
-- Found Ghostscript: /opt/homebrew/bin/gs
-- Found GLPK: /opt/homebrew/lib/libglpk.dylib (Required is at least version "4.33")
-- Found COIN: /opt/homebrew/include/coin
-- Looking for sys/types.h
-- Looking for sys/types.h - found
-- Looking for stdint.h
-- Looking for stdint.h - found
-- Looking for stddef.h
-- Looking for stddef.h - found
-- Check size of long long
-- Check size of long long - done
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD - Success
-- Found Threads: TRUE
-- Copy doc from source tree
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.5.2-27-gc9f58f8
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: c9f58f83a495c041d0cf9b2052c8403aee48ab35
Last commit: 3 hours ago
Branch: master
Core tap JSON: 11 May 04:40 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 11 May 04:40 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_DISPLAY: /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.bFPuKUVVxK/org.xquartz:0
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 14
HOMEBREW_NO_BOOTSNAP: set
HOMEBREW_SORBET_RUNTIME: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.4.3 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.4.3/bin/ruby
CPU: 14-core 64-bit arm_brava
Clang: 17.0.0 build 1700
Git: 2.49.0 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.7.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 15.4.1-arm64
CLT: 16.3.0.0.1.1742442376
Xcode: 16.3
Rosetta 2: false

I've tried building from a repo clone as well, but after a single "Could NOT Find" for doxygen which I was able to solve the end result was the same.
Is this something obvious- is lemon-graph || OpenROAD at large not compatible with Sequoia? Did I just go too far into the weeds here? Figure I should just build in a docker container at this point, but I feel like I'm in too deep now.

[stefanottili]

M1 Sequoia, running the etc/DependencyInstaller on top of a regularly updated homebrew install "works for me"

etc/DependencyInstaller.sh -base
Warning: Treating cmake as a formula. For the cask, use homebrew/cask/cmake or specify the `--cask` flag. To silence this message, use the `--formula` flag.
Warning: bison 3.8.2 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.8.2, run:
  brew reinstall bison
Warning: boost 1.88.0 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.88.0, run:
  brew reinstall boost
Warning: cmake 4.0.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 4.0.1, run:
  brew reinstall cmake
Warning: eigen 3.4.0_1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.4.0_1, run:
  brew reinstall eigen
Warning: flex 2.6.4_2 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 2.6.4_2, run:
  brew reinstall flex
Warning: fmt 11.2.0 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 11.2.0, run:
  brew reinstall fmt
Warning: groff 1.23.0_1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.23.0_1, run:
  brew reinstall groff
Warning: libomp 20.1.4 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 20.1.4, run:
  brew reinstall libomp
Warning: or-tools 9.11_7 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 9.11_7, run:
  brew reinstall or-tools
Warning: pandoc 3.6.4 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.6.4, run:
  brew reinstall pandoc
Warning: pyqt@5 5.15.11 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 5.15.11, run:
  brew reinstall pyqt@5
Warning: python@3.13 3.13.3 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.13.3, run:
  brew reinstall python@3.13
Warning: spdlog 1.15.3 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.15.3, run:
  brew reinstall spdlog
Warning: tcl-tk 9.0.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 9.0.1, run:
  brew reinstall tcl-tk
Warning: zlib 1.3.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.3.1, run:
  brew reinstall zlib
Warning: Already linked: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/libomp/20.1.4
To relink, run:
  brew unlink libomp && brew link --force libomp
Warning: the-openroad-project/lemon-graph/lemon-graph 1.3.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.3.1, run:
  brew reinstall lemon-graph
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  2503  100  2503    0     0   5658      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  5650
Uninstalling swig... (776 files, 5.6MB)
Warning: `--ignore-dependencies` is an unsupported Homebrew developer option!
Adjust your PATH to put any preferred versions of applications earlier in the
PATH rather than using this unsupported option!

==> Fetching swig
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/swig/manifests/4.1.1
############################################################################################################################################################################# 100.0%
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/swig/blobs/sha256:e27a061c91b485a37f144661bcfaa1c99866d299477c5014778b64c608086131
############################################################################################################################################################################# 100.0%
Warning: swig 4.3.1 is available and more recent than version 4.1.1.
==> Pouring swig--4.1.1.arm64_sonoma.bottle.tar.gz
🍺  /opt/homebrew/Cellar/swig/4.1.1: 776 files, 5.6MB
==> Running `brew cleanup swig`...
Disable this behaviour by setting HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP.
Hide these hints with HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS (see `man brew`).
Warning: HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALLED_DEPENDENTS_CHECK is set: not checking for outdated
dependents or dependents with broken linkage!

To install or run openroad, update your path with:
    export PATH="$(brew --prefix bison)/bin:$(brew --prefix flex)/bin:$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/bin:${PATH}"
    export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$(brew --prefix or-tools)

etc/Build.sh will fail with two compile errors.
To get OR to compile I have to modify two CMakeList.txt files.

src/CMakeLists.txt
163   -D_GNU_SOURCE
src/odb/CMakeLists.txt
23 #  add_subdirectory(test)

[stefanottili]

brew reinstall lemon-graph

I also ran into the CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:1 (CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED): that you mentioned.

[gipalob]

Still nothing. I went ahead and cleared all homebrew cache as a 'just in case', lemon-graph still fails install for the CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED error, adding the flag just causes the same could not find ILOG and COIN issues, ends in "Configuring incomplete, errors occured." Through brew install lemon-graph and brew reinstall lemon-graph The make logs at $USER/Library/Logs/Homebrew/lemon-graph/ don't seem to be very informative... As far as I'm able to interpret, COIN / ILOG shouldn't be required for lemon installation- but those are the only 'error' reported in $USER/Library/Logs/Homebrew/lemon-graph/01.cmake, after adding -DCMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED=3.5 in the rb, of course.

% ./etc/DependencyInstaller.sh -base                                                               
Warning: Treating cmake as a formula. For the cask, use homebrew/cask/cmake or specify the `--cask` flag. To silence this message, use the `--formula` flag.
Warning: bison 3.8.2 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.8.2, run:
  brew reinstall bison
Warning: boost 1.88.0 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.88.0, run:
  brew reinstall boost
Warning: cmake 4.0.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 4.0.1, run:
  brew reinstall cmake
Warning: eigen 3.4.0_1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.4.0_1, run:
  brew reinstall eigen
Warning: flex 2.6.4_2 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 2.6.4_2, run:
  brew reinstall flex
Warning: fmt 11.2.0 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 11.2.0, run:
  brew reinstall fmt
Warning: groff 1.23.0_1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.23.0_1, run:
  brew reinstall groff
Warning: libomp 20.1.4 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 20.1.4, run:
  brew reinstall libomp
Warning: or-tools 9.11_7 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 9.11_7, run:
  brew reinstall or-tools
Warning: pandoc 3.6.4 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.6.4, run:
  brew reinstall pandoc
Warning: pyqt@5 5.15.11 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 5.15.11, run:
  brew reinstall pyqt@5
Warning: python@3.13 3.13.3 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 3.13.3, run:
  brew reinstall python@3.13
Warning: spdlog 1.15.3 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.15.3, run:
  brew reinstall spdlog
Warning: tcl-tk 9.0.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 9.0.1, run:
  brew reinstall tcl-tk
Warning: zlib 1.3.1 is already installed and up-to-date.
To reinstall 1.3.1, run:
  brew reinstall zlib
Warning: Already linked: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/libomp/20.1.4
To relink, run:
  brew unlink libomp && brew link --force libomp
==> Auto-updating Homebrew...
Adjust how often this is run with HOMEBREW_AUTO_UPDATE_SECS or disable with
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE. Hide these hints with HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS (see `man brew`).
==> Fetching the-openroad-project/lemon-graph/lemon-graph
==> Downloading https://github.com/The-OpenROAD-Project/lemon-graph/archive/refs/tags/1.3.1.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Users/$USER/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/8cd49562d55d98cf2eee71a84193ad5d47cbb5285d6682f8252b3e921b1dec2e--lemon-graph-1.3.1.tar.gz
==> Installing lemon-graph from the-openroad-project/lemon-graph
==> cmake -B build -DCMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 -DLEMON_ENABLE_SOPLEX=FALSE .
Last 15 lines from /Users/$USER/Library/Logs/Homebrew/lemon-graph/01.cmake:
-- Could NOT find ILOG (missing: ILOG_CPLEX_LIBRARY ILOG_CPLEX_INCLUDE_DIR) 
-- Could NOT find COIN (missing: COIN_INCLUDE_DIR) 
-- Looking for sys/types.h
-- Looking for sys/types.h - found
-- Looking for stdint.h
-- Looking for stdint.h - found
-- Looking for stddef.h
-- Looking for stddef.h - found
-- Check size of long long
-- Check size of long long - done
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD - Success
-- Found Threads: TRUE
-- Copy doc from source tree
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred! 

[stefanottili]

I only ever ran OpenRoad-flow-scripts and OpenRoad DependencyInstaller.sh and am able to compile klayout and OR.
195 total, 82 are --installed-on-request, 134 --installed-as-dependency ... this math doesn't add up ...

brew info
194 kegs, 142,190 files, 5.3GB

brew list --versions

abseil 20240722.1
adwaita-icon-theme 48.0
ampl-asl 1.0.1
aom 3.12.1
at-spi2-core 2.56.2
autoconf 2.72
automake 1.17
bash 5.2.37
bazel@7 7.6.1
bison 3.8.2
boost 1.88.0
brotli 1.1.0
bzip2 1.0.8
ca-certificates 2025-02-25
cairo 1.18.4
cbc 2.10.12
cgl 0.60.9
clp 1.17.10
cmake 4.0.1
coinutils 2.11.12
coreutils 9.7
cppad 20250000.2
cudd 3.0.0
curl 8.13.0
dbus 1.16.2
eigen 3.4.0_1
flex 2.6.4_2
fmt 11.2.0
fontconfig 2.16.0
freeglut 3.6.0
freetype 2.13.3
fribidi 1.0.16
gawk 5.3.1
gcc 14.2.0_1
gd 2.3.3_6
gdk-pixbuf 2.42.12_1
gettext 0.25
ghostscript 10.05.1
giflib 5.2.2
git 2.49.0
git-gui 2.49.0
glib 2.84.1
gmp 6.3.0
gnu-sed 4.9
gobject-introspection 1.84.0
googletest 1.17.0
graphite2 1.3.14
graphviz 12.2.1
groff 1.23.0_1
gsettings-desktop-schemas 48.0
gtk+3 3.24.43
gts 0.7.6_3
harfbuzz 11.2.0
hicolor-icon-theme 0.18
highway 1.2.0
hwloc 2.12.0
icu4c@76 76.1_2
icu4c@77 77.1
imagemagick 7.1.1-47
imath 3.1.12
ipopt 3.14.17
isl 0.27
jasper 4.2.5
jbig2dec 0.20
jpeg 9f
jpeg-turbo 3.1.0
jpeg-xl 0.11.1_1
lemon-graph 1.3.1
leptonica 1.85.0
less 668
libarchive 3.7.9
libavif 1.3.0
libb2 0.98.1
libclc 20.1.4
libde265 1.0.16
libdeflate 1.23
libepoxy 1.5.10
libffi 3.4.8
libgcrypt 1.11.1
libgit2 1.9.0
libgpg-error 1.55
libheif 1.19.8
libice 1.1.2
libidn 1.43
libidn2 2.3.8
liblqr 0.4.3
libmpc 1.3.1
libnghttp2 1.65.0
libomp 20.1.4
libpaper 2.2.6
libpng 1.6.48
libraw 0.21.4
librsvg 2.60.0
libsm 1.2.6
libsodium 1.0.20
libssh2 1.11.1
libtiff 4.7.0
libtool 2.5.4
libunistring 1.3
libvmaf 3.0.0
libx11 1.8.12
libxau 1.0.12
libxaw 1.0.16_1
libxcb 1.17.0
libxdmcp 1.1.5
libxext 1.3.6
libxfixes 6.0.1
libxft 2.3.9
libxi 1.8.2
libxml2 2.13.7
libxmu 1.2.1
libxpm 3.5.17
libxrandr 1.5.4
libxrender 0.9.12
libxslt 1.1.43
libxt 1.3.1
libxtst 1.2.5
libxxf86vm 1.1.6
libyaml 0.2.5
little-cms2 2.17
llvm 20.1.4_1
lua 5.4.7
lz4 1.10.0
lzo 2.10
m4 1.4.19
make 4.4.1
md4c 0.5.2
mesa 25.1.0
mesa-glu 9.0.3
molten-vk 1.3.0
mpdecimal 4.0.1
mpfr 4.2.2
ncurses 6.5
netpbm 11.02.16
ninja 1.12.1
numpy 2.2.5
openblas 0.3.29
openexr 3.3.3
openjdk@21 21.0.7
openjpeg 2.5.3
openssl@3 3.5.0
or-tools 9.11_7
osi 0.108.11
p7zip 17.06
pandoc 3.6.4
pango 1.56.3
papilo 2.4.2
patchutils 0.4.2
pcre 8.45
pcre2 10.45
pigz 2.8
pixman 0.46.0
pkgconf 2.4.3
protobuf 29.3
protobuf@21 21.12_1
psutils 3.3.9
py3cairo 1.28.0
pygobject3 3.52.3
pyqt@5 5.15.11
python-packaging 25.0
python@3.12 3.12.10
python@3.13 3.13.3
qt@5 5.15.16_2
re2 20240702_1
readline 8.2.13
rtmpdump 2.4-20151223_3
ruby 3.4.3
ruby@3.2 3.2.8
scip 9.2.2
shared-mime-info 2.4
smartmontools 7.5
soplex 7.1.4.0
spdlog 1.15.3
spirv-llvm-translator 20.1.2
spirv-tools 1.4.313.0
sqlite 3.49.2
swig 4.1.1
tbb 2022.1.0
tcl-tk 9.0.1
tcl-tk@8 8.6.16
tesseract 5.5.0_1
uchardet 0.0.8
utf8proc HEAD-a1b99da
vim 9.1.1350
webp 1.5.0
wget 1.25.0
x265 4.1
xdot 1.4
xorgproto 2024.1
xz 5.8.1
z3 4.15.0
zlib 1.3.1
zopfli 1.0.3_1
zstd 1.5.7
xquartz 2.8.5

[gipalob]

I was finally able to figure it out.

I had to build lemon-graph from source, and modify its CMakeLists.txtlines 1-3 to:

CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 3.5..3.29)

CMAKE_POLICY(SET CMP0148 OLD)

It seems to me that based on this error printed with the unmodified CMakeLists.txt:

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:3 (CMAKE_POLICY):
  Policy CMP0048 may not be set to OLD behavior because this version of CMake
  no longer supports it.  The policy was introduced in CMake version 3.0.0,
  and use of NEW behavior is now required.

  Please either update your CMakeLists.txt files to conform to the new
  behavior or use an older version of CMake that still supports the old
  behavior.  Run cmake --help-policy CMP0048 for more information.

CMake Error at cmake/FindPythonInterp.cmake:58 (message):
  The FindPythonInterp module has been removed by policy CMP0148.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:8 (INCLUDE)

Solely having CMAKE_POLICY(SET CMP0048 OLD) does not allow a makefile access to FindPythonInterp. By changing it to CMAKE_POLICY(SET CMP0148 OLD) I was able to build from source.

After I figured that out, I still had more issues with the actual build process for OpenROAD- it was unable to find the tcl-tk library and header, and a few other libraries. Your package list was of some assistance in solving those issues, at least in pointing me in the direction of how to solve them. I'm unsure of the exact circumstances, but my best bet is that because there were multiple versions of some packages installed via brew (tcl-tk 9.0.01 and tcl-tk@8 8.6.16, as well as for myself qt [latest] and qt@5) the makefiles were unable to parse PATHs through the noise. For example- I had to modify FindTCL.cmake to have the ability to see tcl-tk@8- in OpenROAD/cmake/FindTCL.cmake, adding /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk@8/lib to:

  if (CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
    set(TCL_LIB_PATHS /usr/local/lib
      /opt/homebrew/opt/tcl-tk/lib
      /usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib
      )

And similar for a few other libraries, in a few other cmake files- flex had a similar issue, although there was no 'multiple versions' issue thee. So end of story: I'm unsure how and why I had so many issues, but was able to figure it out in the end. Hopefully should anyone else experience similar this'll help them out.

[stefanottili]

Glad you got it working.
Since OR doesn’t support tcl-tk 9 yet, I believe I used ‘brew link tcl-tk@8’ to get cmake to find it.

[stefanottili]

As of May 25 2025, the odb gzip read/write commit broke linking on M1 Mac homebrew, it fails with missing zstd.
Since I'm not familiar with the cmake lib detection, I did a make VERBOSE=1 > link, added the following two lib path to the final openroad link command and ran just that manually. Not a permanent solution, but creates a working openroad executable.
-L/opt/homebrew/opt/zstd/lib -L/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/lib

[stefanottili]

As of Jul 4 2025, please see #7573 on how to patch CMakeList.txt files to get OpenRoad to build on MacOS arm64 using homebrew.