[macOS] absolute path to MacOSX14.sdk is injected which fails downstream build with CMake

[kambala-decapitator]

I've installed minizip-ng v4.0.10 from Homebrew and tried to use it in a CMake project. Configure step succeeds, but when I try to build something (used Ninja), I get:

ninja: error: '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX14.sdk/usr/lib/libz.tbd', needed by 'bin/libvcmi.dylib', missing and no known rule to make it

CMake trace output for configure step revealed this:

/usr/local/lib/cmake/minizip-ng/minizip-ng.cmake(61): set_target_properties(MINIZIP::minizip-ng PROPERTIES INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES ${_IMPORT_PREFIX}/include/minizip-ng;${_IMPORT_PREFIX}/include/minizip-ng INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES /usr/local/Cellar/xz/5.8.1/lib;/usr/local/opt/zstd/lib INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX14.sdk/usr/lib/libz.tbd;/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX14.sdk/usr/lib/libbz2.tbd;lzma;zstd;/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX14.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework;/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX14.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework;/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX14.sdk/usr/lib/libiconv.tbd )

[Coeur]

The MacOSX string does not exist anywhere in this project. So that sounds more like you facing an issue with cmake or ninja than an issue with minizip.

For better debugging, please tell us:

• What's your current macOS version? (command is sw_vers)
• What's your current cmake version? (command is cmake --version)
• What's your current ninja version? (command is ninja --version)

At the time of this post, I hope you have cmake version 4.1.2 and ninja 1.13.1, otherwise please upgrade (brew upgrade if you installed them via brew).

The minizip build instructions are:

minizip-ng/README.md

Lines 62 to 63 in 1867916

	cmake -S . -B build -D MZ_BUILD_TESTS=ON
	cmake --build build

If you adapt them for Xcode, that becomes:

cmake -S . -B build -G Xcode -D MZ_BUILD_TESTS=ON 
cmake --build build

And that works just fine on my machine.

If you adapt them for Ninja, that becomes:

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -D MZ_BUILD_TESTS=ON 
cmake --build build

And that works just fine on my machine.

So on top of your software versions, please provide the commands you used and the build output.
And don't forget to wipeout your build folder to be in a clean state.

[kambala-decapitator]

the issue is not with building minizip-ng but rather with consuming it in a downstream project

will build manually and see if the exported CMake configuration file contains those hardcoded paths as well

[Coeur]

At least the file exists in newer SDKs for sure:

➜  ls /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.sdk/usr/lib/libz.tbd
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX15.sdk/usr/lib/libz.tbd
➜  ls /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk/usr/lib/libz.tbd
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk/usr/lib/libz.tbd

Make sure you have Xcode 26 installed. And that xcode-select -p shows its path.

[kambala-decapitator]

no offense, but you're still not getting the point. The issue is about the consumption of a prebuilt library on another machine. In my case, from Homebrew. It doesn't matter if I build it manually and give it to someone, or if I download it from Homebrew, or even if I build it with Xcode 16 and then try to use it with Xcode 26 on the same machine (or, more specifically, build against macOS 15 SDK and and consume against macOS 26 SDK). As soon as macOS SDK of the build machine (or better to say "environment") is not the same as on the consuming one, this error manifests.

So here I built it manually with Xcode 16 and let's see what we have after installing:

> xcode-select -p
/Applications/Xcode-16.4.0.app/Contents/Developer

> cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
-- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 17.0.0.17000013
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Using CMake version 4.1.0
-- Looking for stdint.h
-- Looking for stdint.h - found
-- Looking for inttypes.h
-- Looking for inttypes.h - found
-- Looking for sys/types.h
-- Looking for sys/types.h - found
-- Looking for stddef.h
-- Looking for stddef.h - found
-- Check size of off64_t
-- Check size of off64_t - failed
-- Looking for fseeko
-- Looking for fseeko - found
-- Using BZIP2 1.0.8
-- Checking for module 'liblzma'
--   Found liblzma, version 5.8.1
-- Using LZMA 5.8.1
-- Checking for module 'libzstd'
--   Found libzstd, version 1.5.7
-- Using ZSTD 1.5.7
-- Found PkgConfig: /usr/local/bin/pkg-config (found version "2.5.1")
-- Checking for module 'openssl'
--   Found openssl, version 3.5.2
-- Using OpenSSL 3.5.2
-- Performing Test Iconv_IS_BUILT_IN
-- Performing Test Iconv_IS_BUILT_IN - Failed
-- Using Iconv
-- The following features have been enabled:

 * MZ_COMPAT, Enables compatibility layer
 * MZ_BZIP2, Enables BZIP2 compression
 * MZ_LZMA, Enables LZMA & XZ compression
 * MZ_ZSTD, Enables ZSTD compression
 * MZ_LIBCOMP, Enables Apple compression
 * MZ_PKCRYPT, Enables PKWARE traditional encryption
 * MZ_WZAES, Enables WinZIP AES encryption
 * MZ_OPENSSL, Enables OpenSSL for encryption
 * MZ_LIBBSD, Builds with libbsd crypto random
 * MZ_ICONV, Enables iconv string encoding conversion library

-- The following features have been disabled:

 * MZ_ZLIB, Enables ZLIB compression
 * MZ_FETCH_LIBS, Enables fetching third-party libraries if not found
 * MZ_FORCE_FETCH_LIBS, Enables fetching third-party libraries always
 * MZ_COMPRESS_ONLY, Only support compression
 * MZ_DECOMPRESS_ONLY, Only support decompression
 * MZ_FILE32_API, Builds using posix 32-bit file api
 * MZ_BUILD_TESTS, Builds minizip test executable
 * MZ_BUILD_UNIT_TESTS, Builds minizip unit test project
 * MZ_BUILD_FUZZ_TESTS, Builds minizip fuzzer executables
 * MZ_CODE_COVERAGE, Builds with code coverage flags

-- Configuring done (7.0s)
-- Generating done (0.0s)
-- Build files have been written to: /Users/kambala/Downloads/minizip-ng-4.0.10/minizip-ng-4.0.10/build

> cmake --build build 
[21/21] Linking C static library libminizip.a

> cmake --install build --prefix install
-- Install configuration: "Release"
-- Installing: .../install/lib/libminizip.a
-- Installing: .../install/lib/cmake/minizip/minizip.cmake
-- Installing: .../install/lib/cmake/minizip/minizip-release.cmake
-- Installing: .../install/lib/cmake/minizip/minizip-config-version.cmake
-- Installing: .../install/lib/cmake/minizip/minizip-config.cmake
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_os.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_crypt.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_buf.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_mem.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_split.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_os.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_zip.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_zip_rw.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_libcomp.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_bzip.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_lzma.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_zstd.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_pkcrypt.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/mz_strm_wzaes.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/ioapi.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/unzip.h
-- Installing: .../install/include/minizip/zip.h
-- Installing: .../install/lib/pkgconfig/minizip.pc

Now if I want to use the installed lib, I'll pass the install directory to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH. Let's have a look at the generated CMake installation files, specifically at .../install/lib/cmake/minizip/minizip.cmake:

set_target_properties(MINIZIP::minizip PROPERTIES
  INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES "${_IMPORT_PREFIX}/include/minizip;${_IMPORT_PREFIX}/include/minizip"
  INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES "/usr/local/Cellar/xz/5.8.1/lib;/usr/local/opt/zstd/lib;/usr/local/Cellar/openssl@3/3.5.2/lib"
  INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "compression;/Applications/Xcode-16.4.0.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/lib/libbz2.tbd;lzma;zstd;ssl;crypto;/Applications/Xcode-16.4.0.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/lib/libiconv.

it contains hardcoded paths of my build machine which is completely wrong. That's exactly what I showed in the OP: the same file in Homebrew package also contains hardcoded paths of the Homebrew's build machine and they built the library against macOS 14 SDK which I don't have installed.

And if later I delete my Xcode 16.4 and try to use e.g. Xcode 26 to consume the manually built and installed minizip-ng, it will fail with the same error as in the OP. Or even if I delete/upgrade those referenced Homebrew packages that are minizip-ng dependencies.

To sum up, the installed CMake config file is incorrect and needs to be fixed.

[Coeur]

My first line of text was:

So that sounds more like you facing an issue with cmake or ninja than an issue with minizip.

Did you ask about that to the CMake project? (after upgrading to latest, as you forgot brew upgrade despite me reminding you)

There are no install folder in this project. And such folder isn't created by the cmake command.

Did you try the generated minizip-noconfig.cmake file instead of the generated minizip.cmake?

Can you point to a different small project where the generate cmake files aren't showing build paths?

Do you see anything in minizip CMakeLists.txt that would cause your issue?

[kambala-decapitator]

Did you ask about that to the CMake project? (after upgrading to latest, as you forgot brew upgrade despite me reminding you)

are you sure that 4.1.0 vs 4.1.2 would matter? ;) And why should I ask CMake when it's clearly minizip-ng misconfiguration as such issue doesn't exist in any other library that provides CMake config files?

There are no install folder in this project. And such folder isn't created by the cmake command.

I'm sorry, but this statement only shows that you don't understand the standard CMake workflow (which is very similar to Autotools workflow btw): configure, build, install. After that you can use a library from the install tree as a standalone ready-to-consume product. That's exactly why I used the cmake --install command, to mimic library distribution.

Did you try the generated minizip-noconfig.cmake file instead of the generated minizip.cmake?

what's that file and where should I get it from (and why do I even need it)? As you can see from the above output, cmake --install didn't install such file, which means it's not a part of the distribution. Also, this is what I have in Homebrew (output from another machine, but the contents are the same):

> ls -lR $(brew --prefix minizip-ng)/lib/cmake
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  6 andrey.filipenkov  admin   192B Sep 15 10:03 minizip-ng/

/opt/homebrew/opt/minizip-ng/lib/cmake/minizip-ng:
total 40
-r--r--r--  1 andrey.filipenkov  admin   2.7K May  5 04:36 minizip-ng-config-version.cmake
-r--r--r--  1 andrey.filipenkov  admin   1.1K May  5 04:36 minizip-ng-config.cmake
-r--r--r--  1 andrey.filipenkov  admin   905B May  5 04:36 minizip-ng-release.cmake
-r--r--r--  1 andrey.filipenkov  admin   4.6K Sep 15 10:03 minizip-ng.cmake

If that was a typo and you meant minizip-ng-config.cmake, then filename doesn't matter and is controlled by the MZ_COMPAT option if I understand correctly.

Can you point to a different small project where the generate cmake files aren't showing build paths?

take any library that provides CMake config files, for example SDL. On my machine I have SDL 2.32.10 installed via Homebrew, here's its file for the reference: sdl2-config.cmake.zip As you can see, there're no hardcoded paths.

Do you see anything in minizip CMakeLists.txt that would cause your issue?

don't see anything obvious, unfortunately (also never created libraries for distribution). But probably it's something along these lines:

minizip-ng/CMakeLists.txt

Lines 731 to 759 in f890d80

	install(TARGETS ${MINIZIP_TARGET} ${MINIZIP_DEP}
	EXPORT ${MINIZIP_TARGET}
	INCLUDES DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/${MINIZIP_TARGET}"
	RUNTIME DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}"
	ARCHIVE DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}"
	LIBRARY DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}")
	install(EXPORT ${MINIZIP_TARGET}
	DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/${MINIZIP_TARGET}"
	NAMESPACE "MINIZIP::")
	# Create and install CMake package config version file to allow find_package()
	include(CMakePackageConfigHelpers)
	write_basic_package_version_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${MINIZIP_TARGET}-config-version.cmake
	COMPATIBILITY SameMajorVersion)
	set(MINIZIP_CONFIG_CONTENT "@PACKAGE_INIT@\n")
	if(MINIZIP_DEP_PKG)
	string(APPEND MINIZIP_CONFIG_CONTENT "include(CMakeFindDependencyMacro)\n")
	foreach(pkg_name ${MINIZIP_DEP_PKG})
	string(APPEND MINIZIP_CONFIG_CONTENT "find_dependency(${pkg_name})\n")
	endforeach()
	endif()
	string(APPEND MINIZIP_CONFIG_CONTENT "include(\"\${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/${MINIZIP_TARGET}.cmake\")")
	file(WRITE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/minizip-config.cmake.in ${MINIZIP_CONFIG_CONTENT})
	# Create config for find_package()
	configure_package_config_file(
	${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/minizip-config.cmake.in
	${MINIZIP_TARGET}-config.cmake
	INSTALL_DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/${MINIZIP_TARGET}")

---

I have also prepared a minimal repro for this issue:

• CMake project: https://github.com/kambala-decapitator/minizip-ng-macos-consume-issue/blob/main/CMakeLists.txt
• failed build: https://github.com/kambala-decapitator/minizip-ng-macos-consume-issue/actions/runs/18972209248/job/54182506881

[Coeur]

Ah, I missed the --install in your command: I never used that before.
I'll ping those who wrote the lines you pointed at:
@prateek9623 @leha-bot @kschwarz-intrepidcs @nmoinvaz