Can I install arm64 libraries on x86_64 with homebrew?

[maxirmx]

I am cross-compiling on x86_64 MacOS 11 for arm64 architecture.
clang/XCode support it but I face an issue when external library is required.
Let it be boost, for example. I know that the bottle for arm64 is available but it looks like there is no way to select it for installation.

arch -arm64 brew ... says that this architecture is unknown which sounds fair.

So the question is wheather there is an option to force brew install bottles for 'foreign' architecture ?

[carlocab]

Not easily, since this isn't really a supported use-case.

What you can do is something like

brew fetch --force --bottle-tag=arm64_big_sur <formula>
brew install /path/to/downloaded_bottle.tar.gz

This won't work if you already have the x86_64 version of the formula installed, though.

[alexcohn]

You can use $(brew --cache --bottle-tag=arm64_big_sur ${FORMULA}) instead of parsing the output of fetch.

[DBraun]

@alexcohn Can you share your whole code which worked?

[alexcohn]

@DBraun I don't have "code" per se. And my case is just the opposite: I wanted x86_64 libraries for cross-compiling something on an Apple Silicon machine.

brew --cache --bottle-tag=arm64_big_sur ${FORMULA} produces the path of a .tar.gz that you need for brew install as described by @carlocab above.

[DBraun]

Ok I'm trying this on GitHub actions with a macos-12 runner (note the monterey):

PACKAGES=(gtk+3 qt@5 libsndfile libmicrohttpd)
for PACKAGE in "${PACKAGES[@]}"
do
    result=$(brew --cache --bottle-tag=arm64_monterey $PACKAGE)
    echo "Looking for arm64 version of $result"
    brew install $result
done

But I get errors:

Looking for arm64 version of /Users/runner/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/a5ed68a7ed25fc8166b9187dfe38edfd30149c32d3a719afc9dee9f927421dda--gtk+3--3.24.37.arm64_monterey.bottle.tar.gz
Error: No such file or directory @ realpath_rec - /Users/runner/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/a5ed68a7ed25fc8166b9187dfe38edfd30149c32d3a719afc9dee9f927421dda--gtk+3--3.24.37.arm64_monterey.bottle.tar.gz
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

I tried the same with macos-11 and big_sur but got a similar error. It works fine on my arm64 laptop.

[alexcohn]

@DBraun you seem to have missed the brew fetch step. My improvement only gets rid of parsing of output of brew fetch, but does not replace it.

[maxirmx]

@DBraun
I have it running at https://github.com/tamatebako/dwarfs/blob/main/.github/workflows/macos-arm64.yml and https://github.com/tamatebako/libdwarfs/blob/main/.github/workflows/macos-arm64.yml

(some two-way scripts here https://github.com/tamatebako/tebako-tools/tree/master/ci-scripts)

I didn't have time to make it as neat as the commenters suggested, but it works

There are more suggestions here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70821136/can-i-install-arm64-libraries-on-x86-64-with-homebrew/70822921#70822921