Compiling FileZilla 3 under macOS

This documentation explains how to setup a build environment for FileZilla 3 and how to compile it under Mac OS X using Xcode. These directions were written for and tested under Mac OS X Tiger Intel. They may or may not work with Panther, Leopard, or any other Mac Cats you have.

Setting up the build environment

This includes the compiler and the required tools to build FileZilla 3 and its dependancies.

Xcode

Download and install the latest Xcode package for your system. Xcode 2.5 is the right version for Tiger.

Make sure you select the BSD developer subsystem and the command line tools from the Xcode installer.

Building the Dependencies

FileZilla depends on the work of several open source projects. We must build them before we can build FileZilla.

wxWidgets

Download wxWidgets. You will need version 2.8.9 or later. The current version for Mac is wxMac-2.8.9.tar.gz.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
gzip -cd ~/Desktop/wxMac-2.8.9.tar.gz | tar x
mkdir build-wx
cd build-wx
../wxMac-2.8.9/configure --disable-shared --disable-compat26 --enable-unicode \
--prefix /usr/local/wxMac-2.8.9 && make
sudo make install

GNU libidn

Download GNU libidn. The current version is libidn-1.11.tar.gz.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
gzip -cd ~/Desktop/libidn-1.11.tar.gz | tar x
cd libidn-1.11
./configure --disable-shared --prefix /usr/local && make
sudo make install

libgpg-error

Download libgpg-error. The current version is libgpg-error-1.7.tar.bz2.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
bzip2 -cd ~/Desktop/libgpg-error-1.7.tar.bz2 | tar x
cd libgpg-error-1.7
./configure --disable-shared --prefix /usr/local && make
sudo make install

libgcrypt

Download libgcrypt. The current version is libgcrypt-1.4.3.tar.bz2.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
bzip2 -cd ~/Desktop/libgcrypt-1.4.3.tar.bz2 | tar x
cd libgcrypt-1.4.3
./configure --disable-shared --with-gpg-error-prefix=/usr/local --prefix /usr/local && make
sudo make install

GNU TLS

Download GNU TLS. The current version is gnutls-2.6.3.tar.bz2

You also need to download gnutls.patch.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
bzip2 -cd ~/Desktop/gnutls-2.6.3.tar.bz2 | tar x
cd gnutls-2.6.3
patch < ~/Desktop/gnutls.patch
./configure --disable-shared --with-libgcrypt-prefix=/usr/local --prefix /usr/local && make
sudo make install

Now we need to fix a problem with libgnutls-config because it forgets it needs zlib.

Open Terminal again if you closed it, and enter these commands:

cd /usr/local/bin
sudo nano -w libgnutls-config

Look for a line near the top that says:

gnutls_libs="-L${exec_prefix}/lib -lgnutls  -L/usr/local/lib -lgcrypt -lgpg-error  "

Change it to read

gnutls_libs="-L${exec_prefix}/lib -lgnutls  -L/usr/local/lib -lgcrypt -lgpg-error -lz "

Notice all we added is the -lz at the end. Please note the space between -lz and the closing quote; it must be present.

GNU gettext

Download GNU gettext. The current version is gettext-0.17.tar.gz.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
gzip -cd ~/Desktop/gettext-0.17.tar.gz | tar x
cd gettext-0.17
./configure --disable-shared --prefix /usr/local && make
sudo make install

Building FileZilla 3

Download the FileZilla source. The current version is FileZilla_3.1.6_src.tar.bz2.

Start Terminal from the Applications/Utilities folder and enter the following commands:

cd /tmp
bzip2 -cd ~/Desktop/FileZilla_3.1.6_src.tar.bz2 | tar x
cd filezilla-3.1.6
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/wxMac-2.8.9/bin:$PATH
./configure --disable-shared && make
mv FileZilla.app ~/Desktop

Troubleshooting

If you run into problems, please make sure you've followed each step exactly how it is explained and that you haven't missed any steps along the way.