petergeoghegan
Improve setup guide for macOS users on Apple Silicon
(try 2)
Summary
Updates macOS installation instructions to support Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) Macs with tested build steps for wxHexEditor and pg_hexedit.
Changes
- Add Apple Silicon-specific Python configuration for udis86 dependency
- Update testing information to include Sequoia 15.6
- Remove unnecessary alternative hex editor options
- Streamline installation workflow
Problem
Apple Silicon users encountered build failures due to missing Python configuration for the udis86 dependency during wxHexEditor compilation.
Solution
Added step 3 with explicit Apple Silicon identification and exact Python configuration command needed for successful builds.
Testing
Verified on Apple Silicon M1 running macOS Sequoia 15.6. wxHexEditor builds successfully and pg_hexedit XML annotations display correctly with full functionality.
Documentation-only changes that maintain backward compatibility with Intel Mac instructions.
Why do the macOS installation instructions recommend ImHex, which AFAICT also doesn't know anything about the XML format generated by pg_hexedit? I would quite like to be able to support a different hex editor, but I don't see the logic in giving a qualified recommendation for an editor that has zero support for the annotations that pg_hexedit actually generates.
Besides, even if we were to do that, why would we do so here? ImHex is cross-platform.
I'm ok with the revised instructions for MacOS. Since sounds like this is the only way to get wxHexEditor built on modern MacOS?
Why do the macOS installation instructions recommend ImHex, which AFAICT also doesn't know anything about the XML format generated by pg_hexedit? I would quite like to be able to support a different hex editor, but I don't see the logic in giving a qualified recommendation for an editor that has zero support for the annotations that pg_hexedit actually generates.
Besides, even if we were to do that, why would we do so here? ImHex is cross-platform.
I'm ok with the revised instructions for MacOS. Since sounds like this is the only way to get wxHexEditor built on modern MacOS?
@petergeoghegan I'm not sure why you mention ImHex – in the last version of PR, it is not present. I should squash commits... It was in one of the previous attempts to get result done..
In the end of the day, the meaningful change is in this line:
- For Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) Macs: Configure udis86 with Python:
cd udis86 && ./configure --with-python=/opt/homebrew/bin/python3
(maybe should have some words that python here is installed via homebrew, which, I suppose, is quite common, but of course doesn't cover 100% cases)