How to install clang-tidy on macOS?

Question

How do you install clang-tidy on macOS?

It seems quite easy to install clang-format (using brew) on macOS, but it it seems much harder to install clang-tidy without install and building all of clang and building from source. Is there a better option?

I did not find one, some details here: https://embeddedartistry.com/blog/2017/2/20/installing-clangllvm-on-osx . `brew reinstall llvm --with-toolchain` : `/usr/local/Cellar/llvm/7.0.0: 5,351 files, 2.8GB, built in 50 minutes 39 seconds` . — Liviu, Nov 08 '18 at 12:33
Thanks for the link, I expanded on the articles suggestions and added some background detail. — Michael Reneer, Nov 19 '18 at 18:47

score 86 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 05 '23 at 23:00

86

I don't think there is a really easy way to do this today, here are some details:

clang comes installed on macOS and is the default compiler, but it does not come installed with clang-format or clang-tidy (or possibly any of the extra tools).
It's really easy to use brew to install clang-format if you want it: brew install clang-format
There is no clang-tidy brew formula.

As a result it seems like the best way to get clang-tidy on macOS is to simply install all of llvm and then make symlinks for the tools you want to use.

brew install llvm
ln -s "$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin/clang-format" "/usr/local/bin/clang-format"
ln -s "$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin/clang-tidy" "/usr/local/bin/clang-tidy"
ln -s "$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin/clang-apply-replacements" "/usr/local/bin/clang-apply-replacements"

Alternatively, you could download the prebuilt binaries and create the same symlinks. It's not a good idea to add all of llvm to your PATH because of conflicts with the default clang compiler.

edited Aug 05 '23 at 23:00

chrysante

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answered Nov 19 '18 at 18:44

Michael Reneer

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Will "brew install" add all of llvm to my PATH? --EDIT: No. Running `brew info` says, "llvm is keg-only, which means it was not symlinked...." – Robert Jacobson Jan 17 '19 at 20:09
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I'm getting `Error: invalid option: --with-toolchain`. Is there a new way to install it? – Nelson Yeung Feb 19 '19 at 23:27
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If you get `Error: invalid option: --with-toolchain` it worked for me to just run it without that option. ie. `brew install llvm` still installs clang-tidy (and then you can symlink it) – Andreas Løve Selvik Mar 02 '19 at 21:54
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Warning: the `llvm` install is quite massive – Brad Solomon Oct 07 '19 at 08:24
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Also often needed: `ln -s "$(brew --prefix llvm)/share/clang/run-clang-tidy.py" "/usr/local/bin/run-clang-tidy.py"` – Sapd Jan 01 '20 at 18:10

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '22 at 15:24

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you can use brew install fmenezes/tap/clang-tidy today

answered Apr 01 '22 at 15:24

Filipe C Menezes

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I'm getting strange errors from this `clang-tidy`: `error: 'string' file not found [clang-diagnostic-error]` (complains about line `#include `). and I'm not getting such errors when running on linux – igagis Apr 15 '22 at 18:27
I think this does not work because it uses llvm 14 but current Mac xcode is still on 13.x so there are missing include headers – Connor Clark Jun 13 '22 at 08:48
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Not found in 2023. – ynn Mar 26 '23 at 08:26

How to install clang-tidy on macOS?

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