arch-dependent data dir 'Contents/MacOS/libexec/': No such file or directory

[tommythorn]

I hope this is the right place to report this.

I installed "GNU Emacs 31.0.50" via Mac Home Brew on an M1 MacBook Air and I'm struggling to fix Warning: arch-dependent data dir 'Contents/MacOS/libexec/': No such file or directory

The README.md suggestion doesn't work on several levels:

1. there is no /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin (there are multiple bin-* directories though)
2. there is no emacs anywhere in under /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS, but there is both an Emacs and an emacs-nw.
3. Launching /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs or /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/emacs-nw both results in the above warning.

(AFAICT, this is the root cause of problems I have with extensions).

[jimeh]

Sounds like you've installed the emacs Cask from Homebrew, it uses binary builds of Emacs from https://emacsformacosx.com, which is unrelated to this project.

This project is for my custom build script to make it easier to build self contained Emacs applications for macOS. I do also maintain a nightly builds project that uses this script here: https://github.com/jimeh/emacs-builds (Note: Only stable and monthly builds offer Apple Silicon binaries, details are in the README)

For better or worse there's a number of different ways to install Emacs on macOS, both from source and also as pre-built applications.

If it helps, here's a brief summary of the options available off the top of my head:

• Standard GNU Emacs:
  • emacsformacosx.com pre-built apps, focuses on a vanilla Emacs build with no extra bells or whistles enabled at compile time. Can be installed with brew install --cask emacs.
  • emacs-plus is a Homebrew formula focused on automating the building of Emacs on your own machine with various bells and whistles enabled. It does not produce a fully self-contained Emacs.app application however.
  • jimeh/emacs-builds my own nightly and stable builds project, with a focus on fully self-contained Emacs.app applications and enabling as many useful bells and whistles at compile time as possible.
  • jimeh/build-emacs-for-macos (this project) is the underlying build script for jimeh/emacs-builds, with the same focus, but let's you easily create your own builds on your own machine.
• Forks:
  • emacs-mac is a fork of GNU Emacs to add various macOS specific features. It is well maintained and kept up to date with GNU Emacs, but its origin is +10 years ago, and regular GNU Emacs plays much nicer with macOS now.

[tommythorn]

My apologies and thanks for the wealth of information and links. I’ll try these options.

[tommythorn]

Installing directly from the releases of jimeh/emacs-builds works exactly as documented here (of course) and solved my problem. Thanks again!