Compile OpenFOAM from source on M1 Mac

I just spent 3 hours building ESI OpenFOAM-v2112 from source code locally(no need docker) on my m1 MacBook air. This blog is to record the process.

Although here is a very convenient already-built source for mac: gerlero/openfoam2112-app. I still chose to build it from the source on my own mac.

Helpful resources:

• OpenFOAM v2112 source code

• BrushXue/OpenFOAM-AppleM1

• OpenFOAM installation on Mac.pdf

• OpenFOAM wiki

• OpenFOAM doc

Preliminaries

Command line tools:

xcode-select --install

Homebrew:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Procedures

1. Create a case-sensitive volume on mac. OpenFOAM requires a case-sensitive volume to build and run, yet mac does not support it by default.

   Open disk utility.app and follow these settings:

   

   

   

   

2. Go to /Volumes/OpenFOAMs/, download and extract the source code and the patches for mac (thanks to BrushXue) to the same directory.

3. Install dependencies with homebrew:

   brew install cmake open-mpi libomp adios2 boost fftw kahip metis

4. Install modifiled scotch and CGAL@4 (Thanks to gerlero for creating this tap)

   brew tap gerlero/openfoam
   brew install scotch-no-pthread cgal@4

5. And you probably need to add the following:

   export CPATH=/opt/homebrew/include
   export LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/lib

6. Source OpenFOAM's environment bashrc:

   source etc/bashrc

7. Check the system and build (about 1 hour on MacBook Air)

   foamSystemCheck
   ./Allwmake -j -s -l

8. Install paraview from Homebrew

   brew install --cask paraview

9. Add alias to $home/.zshrc

   alias of="source /Volumes/OpenFOAMs/OpenFOAM-v2112/etc/bashrc"