How to build for Mac OS X 10.6 SDK in Xcode versions that don't include it

Asked 8/3, 2012 at 17:14 Answered 28/7, 2012 at 23:8

My Xcode only allows me to select Mac OS X 10.7 as the earliest Base SDK. Is it possible to install additional base SDKs?

Preceptive answered 8/3, 2012 at 17:14 Comment(3)

Ok let me rephrase the question then... – Preceptive 8/3, 2012 at 18:20

@sch Snow Leopard was released in 2009, and was still under NDA in March of 2012? – Bunnybunow 30/10, 2012 at 19:47

No it is not.. And the NDA does not matter to stack overflow, I dont know why people are Agreement Nazi's its not Stackoverflow's job, nor is it the job of people on the site to enforce apple's agreements. If you dont feel comfortable talking about something you should just keep it to yourself. – Dipterocarpaceous 7/10, 2013 at 23:59

I found an old version of Xcode 4.3 on one of my backup disks and dragged a copy of:

/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.6.sdk

to:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.6.sdk

It now sits along side the MacOSX10.7.sdk and MacOSX10.8.sdk, which were already there. They came with Xcode 4.4.

I'm running Xcode Version 4.4 (4F250) and OS X 10.8.

After restarting Xcode, remember to go into build settings and set the Base SDK to OS X 10.6 if it defaulted to "Current OS X" and your project requires the 10.6 sdk.

Limit answered 28/7, 2012 at 23:8 Comment(5)

Yup, that works fine (I've shipped software with it); you can also just symlink it if you've got an old version of Xcode installed. – Lenoralenore 28/7, 2012 at 23:10

Will probably have to repeat this process in some form when Xcode is updated. – Aquarius 15/8, 2012 at 0:55

I upgraded to 4.4.1 and had to repeat it. – Limit 16/8, 2012 at 2:33

I just did this in Xcode 6.1 and, amazingly, it still works. I just built a massive project, including CodeWarrior PowerPlant, in Xcode 6.1, using the 10.6 SDK. Of course I'll need to re-patch after updating Xcode – not a big deal! – Vessel 25/2, 2015 at 16:47

Oh, yeah, but remember to launch the any version of Xcode once, to let Gatekeeper do its 5-minute thing, before you "damage" it by adding unauthorized SDK :) If you forget, you cannot just remove the SDK, you must reinstall Xcode and start over :( – Vessel 27/3, 2015 at 19:36

Is there a reason you need the 10.6 SDK? If you set the deployment target to 10.6, you can use the 10.7 SDK and your app will run on 10.6, assuming you're not using anything added in 10.7.

Parsec answered 8/3, 2012 at 19:46 Comment(4)

Because I'm trying to compile legacy code that is trying to access APIs that are not there any more. – Preceptive 9/3, 2012 at 10:57

If you have a copy of the 10.6 SDK, you could try adding it to the SDKs in Xcode's application bundle. If that doesn't work, Xcode 4.3 has the 10.6 SDK. – Parsec 9/3, 2012 at 19:5

I can't install Xcode 4.3 in Mountain Lion OS X 10.8. That is essentially my question, how can I get and install SDK 10.6 in Xcode 4.4. – Preceptive 12/3, 2012 at 10:40

@MarkSzymczyk Homebrew requires the Snow Leopard SDK, as of this comment (version 0.9.3) >.< – Bunnybunow 30/10, 2012 at 19:49

Recommended topics

Hot tags