build: Bump Xcode CLT minimum supported version to 26.3 #36287

pull maflcko wants to merge 1 commits into bitcoin:master from maflcko:2609-clt-bump changing 4 files +10 −7

maflcko commented at 1:00 PM on September 17, 2026: member

Now that macOS 14 is EOL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Sonoma), it seems odd to still support native Xcode CLT builds on it.

(macOS Sonoma 14.8.9 received its final security update on 06 Aug 2026: https://support.apple.com/en-us/100100)

This patch will only be released in version 33.x, another 6 months out from now. Also, depends builds (and thus release builds) are unaffected. Affected devs or users are free to build via brew, nix, etc...

This is mostly needed to get an equivalent of llvm-19-ish via CLT, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xcode#Toolchain_versions. Specifically, it will allow to use C++20 CTAD and also allow switching the project to C++23.
DrahtBot added the label Build system on Sep 17, 2026
maflcko marked this as a draft on Sep 17, 2026
DrahtBot commented at 1:00 PM on September 17, 2026: contributor


The following sections might be updated with supplementary metadata relevant to reviewers and maintainers.



External sites
- Code coverage & benchmarks: https://corecheck.dev/bitcoin/bitcoin/pulls/36287
- Ralph review <img src=https://review.fish.foo/assets/bitcoin/bitcoin/36287.png alt="Ralph review status"> https://git.fish.foo/bitcoin/bitcoin/pulls/36287#author-ralph


Reviews

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ACK l0rinc, hebasto

Concept ACK fanquake

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Conflicts

Reviewers, this pull request conflicts with the following ones:
- #36042 <sub><img src="https://drahtbot.space/ack_count/bitcoin/bitcoin/36042.svg"></sub> (build: Bump g++ minimum supported version to 13 by maflcko)
- #31507 <sub><img src="https://drahtbot.space/ack_count/bitcoin/bitcoin/31507.svg"></sub> (build: Use clang-cl to build on Windows natively by hebasto)
If you consider this pull request important, please also help to review the conflicting pull requests. Ideally, start with the one that should be merged first.
build: Bump Xcode CLT minimum supported version to 26.3 fa0df9d336
maflcko force-pushed on Sep 17, 2026
maflcko added this to the milestone 33.0 on Sep 17, 2026
DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Sep 17, 2026
maflcko marked this as ready for review on Sep 17, 2026
DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Sep 17, 2026
fanquake commented at 4:16 PM on September 19, 2026: member

Concept ACK
maflcko removed this from the milestone 33.0 on Oct 12, 2026
hebasto commented at 12:18 PM on October 20, 2026: member

Concept ACK.
maflcko commented at 12:23 PM on October 20, 2026: member

cc @Sjors (or anyone else who is using xcode)
Sjors commented at 12:48 PM on October 20, 2026: member

Requiring a modern version of Xcode for native macOS builds is fine by me. My current version of (full) Xcode is 27.0.

Xcode 26.3 requires macOS 15.6 according to the table you shared, which works on reasonably old devices according to Wikipedia (e.g. a 2018 MacBook Pro).
in doc/build-osx.md:19 in fa0df9d336
```
  15 | @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ macOS comes with a built-in Terminal located in:
  16 |  ### 1. Xcode Command Line Tools
  17 |  
  18 |  The Xcode Command Line Tools are a collection of build tools for macOS.
  19 | -Version 16.2 (or higher) of these tools must be
  20 | +Version 26.3 (or higher) of these tools must be
```
l0rinc commented at 7:39 PM on October 20, 2026:

Could we mention the macOS 15.6+ build requirement mentioned by @Sjors?

Sjors commented at 4:01 AM on October 21, 2026:

It might be possible to use an older version of macOS and install llvm via Homebrew.

maflcko commented at 5:23 AM on October 21, 2026:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode-release-notes/xcode-26_3-release-notes also say "Xcode 26.3 requires a Mac running macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later."

So it seems fine to leave as-is. Also, it seems unrelated.
in doc/release-notes-36287.md:5 in fa0df9d336
```
   0 | @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
   1 | +Build System
   2 | +------------
   3 | +
   4 | +- The minimum supported Xcode Command Line Tools version for native macOS
   5 | +  builds has been raised to 26.3. (#36287)
```
l0rinc commented at 8:24 PM on October 20, 2026:

Could we also explain why release builds retain macOS 14 support, given the EOL status mentioned in the description?

maflcko commented at 5:23 AM on October 21, 2026:

I didn't want to touch those this time. The changes here are required to bump to clang-19-ish. Bumping release builds is a separate discussion. If there is need to, someone can submit that. However, testing should be done to confirm such a change (ref #33489 (comment)).

l0rinc commented at 5:43 AM on October 21, 2026:

Thanks for clarifying

maflcko commented at 5:59 AM on October 21, 2026:

A good date to touch the macos-cross release builds could be Q1/Q2 2027, maybe with an SDK bump to the latest point release at that time. But my preference would be to do it when there is a good reason.
l0rinc approved
l0rinc commented at 8:27 PM on October 20, 2026: contributor

ACK fa0df9d336e80d37eab5f08b170a3255f287060c

I’ve been building with Xcode 26.6 for several months and am fine with retiring older toolchains.
DrahtBot requested review from fanquake on Oct 20, 2026
DrahtBot requested review from hebasto on Oct 20, 2026
hebasto approved
hebasto commented at 6:36 AM on October 21, 2026: member

ACK fa0df9d336e80d37eab5f08b170a3255f287060c.

Xcode 26.3 still supports Intel-based Macs.
fanquake merged this on Oct 21, 2026
fanquake closed this on Oct 21, 2026