instructions for firedrake install on Mac

[Ig-dolci]

---

name: "Bug fix or new feature"
description: ''
title: ''
labels: ''
assignees: ''

---

Description

Please include a summary of the changes introduced by this PR.
Additionally include any relevant motivation and context. List any
dependencies that are required for this change, other PRs upon
which this may depend, and associated issues.

Associated Pull Requests:

• Make a list (with links!)
• Like this PR#691

Fixes Issues:

• Make a list of issues (with links!)
• Like this Issue#2824

If issues are fixed by this PR, prepend each of them with the word
"fixes", so they are automatically closed when this PR is merged. For
example "fixes #123, fixes #456".

Checklist for author:

• I have linted the codebase (make lint in the firedrake source directory).
• My changes generate no new warnings.
• All of my functions and classes have appropriate docstrings.
• I have commented my code where its purpose may be unclear.
• I have included and updated any relevant documentation.
• Documentation builds locally (make linkcheck; make html; make latexpdf in firedrake/docs directory)
• I have added tests specific to the issues fixed in this PR.
• I have added tests that exercise the new functionality I have introduced
• Tests pass locally (pytest tests in the firedrake source directory) (useful, but not essential if you don't have suitable hardware).
• I have performed a self-review of my own code using the below guidelines.

Checklist for reviewer:

• Docstrings present
• New tests present
• Code correctly commented
• No bad "code smells"
• No issues in parallel
• No CI issues (excessive parallelism/memory usage/time/warnings generated)
• Upstream/dependent branches and PRs are ready

Feel free to add reviewers if you know there is someone who is already aware of this work.

Please open this PR initially as a draft and mark as ready for review once CI tests are passing.

[Ig-dolci]

Reviewing the instructions for firedrake installation on Mac is also necessary.

[connorjward]

Before we update the website I think it would be good for someone else to follow the steps and make sure it solves the issue for them.

[connorjward]

I think that this should be put in a text box

.. note::
  Due to current issues with Xcode 15...

[JDBetteridge]

I have found additional issues with the installer that prevent the documented changes from working properly.
Essentially setting LDFLAGS in PETSC_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS may or may not (due to the unordered nature of Python set()) take precedence the LDFLAGS used to control BLAS linking in PETSc.

This requires a bigger fix, although probably needs discussion.

[Ig-dolci]

I have found additional issues with the installer that prevent the documented changes from working properly. Essentially setting LDFLAGS in PETSC_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS may or may not (due to the unordered nature of Python set()) take precedence the LDFLAGS used to control BLAS linking in PETSc.

This requires a bigger fix, although probably needs discussion.

Hm. I see. So, downgrading CLT is the best solution for now since setting LDFLAGS in PETSC_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS is required only for CLT 15.

[JDBetteridge]

Anecdotally CLT 14.3.1 will not run on MacOS Sonoma, I can find forum posts about this but not an official statement* from Mac. This means users may need to downgrade their OS to fix in this manner.

*I also haven't looked very hard

[Ig-dolci]

Anecdotally CLT 14.3.1 will not run on MacOS Sonoma, I can find forum posts about this but not an official statement* from Mac. This means users may need to downgrade their OS to fix in this manner.

*I also haven't looked very hard

Yep. The Xcode14 app is not working for Sonoma anymore, but we can still use clang14-0. I am with Sonoma and using the clang14 version here. That is a temporary fix until Xcode sorts this issue or, as you pointed out, we can try a bigger fix for Xcode15.