Un-installable state of Sunshine on modern macOS (Apple Silicon / Sequoia) and fundamental issues.

[sukuzai]

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Hello Sunshine Development Team,

This is a detailed summary of an exhaustive, multi-hour troubleshooting process attempting to install Sunshine on a modern Apple Silicon Mac. I hope this detailed feedback is useful for understanding the current user experience on macOS.

System Details:

Machine: Mac mini (Apple Silicon)

Operating System: macOS Sequoia

Goal: To run Sunshine as a host for streaming to controller-based Moonlight clients (like Android/iOS devices with a gamepad).

Summary of Installation Attempts and Findings:

We systematically tried every conceivable method to install Sunshine, and every single one failed for a different, fundamental reason.

Homebrew Installation (brew install sunshine):

Result: The installation fails during the compilation stage with the error make: *** [all] Error 2.

Conclusion: The official, recommended installation method appears to be broken for modern macOS versions, as documented by other users as well.

Latest Releases (v2025.x - both "Latest" and "Pre-release"):

File: The only potential macOS asset is sunshine.pkg.tar.zst.

Result: This archive does not contain a macOS installer (.pkg or .app). Instead, it contains a raw filesystem dump of a usr directory. Attempting a manual installation via sudo cp -R usr / fails with Operation not permitted errors.

Conclusion: This is not a real macOS package. It seems to be a raw archive of a Linux/Unix-style installation, which is fundamentally incompatible with macOS System Integrity Protection (SIP).

Older Release with .dmg (v0.22.0):

File: We found an older release with a promising sunshine.dmg file.

Result: Incredibly, this .dmg also did not contain a standard .app bundle. It contained the same usr folder for manual installation as the newer releases, leading to the same SIP-related dead end.

Older Release with .pkg (v0.19.0):

File: This was the most promising attempt, using the standalone sunshine.pkg file.

Result 1: The macOS installer ran and completed with an "Installation Successful" message.

Result 2: We discovered the package ID was org.macports.Sunshine and it installed the executable to /opt/local/bin/sunshine, a non-standard path for systems without MacPorts installed.

Result 3 (The Final Failure): When run from the full path (/opt/local/bin/sunshine), the application immediately aborts with the error: dyld[...]: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libopus.0.dylib.

Conclusion: The .pkg installer is critically flawed and incomplete. It installs the main program but fails to install its own required dependencies.

The Ultimate Showstopper (from our research):

Even if we had succeeded with the installation, we learned that Sunshine on macOS currently has no support for virtual gamepads. This makes streaming to any controller-based Moonlight client not functional, as there is no way to translate controller inputs to the host OS.

Our Questions to the Team:

Given this experience, we would be very grateful for some clarity on the future of Sunshine for macOS:

Is the team aware of the completely broken state of the installation packages (Homebrew, .pkg, .dmg) for macOS users on recent OS versions?

Are there any plans in the future to provide a standard, self-contained .dmg with a proper .app bundle that installs into /Applications and doesn't require manual file copying or disabling security features?

What is the current status or roadmap for implementing virtual gamepad support on macOS via DriverKit? Is this a priority for the project?

Thank you for all your hard work on this project. As you can see, there is a lot of interest from the macOS community, and we are eagerly awaiting a stable, functional version.

[ReenigneArcher]

File: The only potential macOS asset is sunshine.pkg.tar.zst.

That's an Arch Linux package

You will need to use the beta homebrew package until the next stable release: https://docs.lizardbyte.dev/projects/sunshine/latest/md_docs_2getting__started.html#homebrew-1

For your other questions, you can see the public roadmap:

• roadmap
• Sunshine: Create macOS dmg package roadmap#18

[sukuzai]

Thank you so much for your quick and accurate reply! You pointed me in exactly the right direction.

[javibell89]

Confirming this is still an issue on macOS Sequoia 15.5 with an M1 chip.

I have tried building, and also tried installing via Homebrew using both the 'sunshine' and 'sunshine-beta' formulas.

All methods fail during the build process. The manual builds fail with 'boost::process::v1' not found errors, and the Homebrew 'sunshine-beta' formula fails during the cmake configuration step without a clear error message, but the logs show it is incomplete.

It seems the build system is not yet compatible with the Sequoia environment. I'm subscribed to this issue and happy to provide full logs or test any fixes. Thanks!

[ReenigneArcher]

Please provide the make log

[ReenigneArcher]

Our homebrew repo now has prebuilt bottles, that should solve the compilation issues users face locally.

[mthiel]

If it helps, I am getting similar build errors when attempting to install view Homebrew on either of my two Macs.

Log from the Mac Studio on 15.5: https://pastebin.com/GGM4BHS6
Log from the Mac Mini on 15.5: https://pastebin.com/DKGmwQMu

[ReenigneArcher]

You have two different problems. The first one is you have an architecture mismatch. I don't know how to fix that though. I think people have solved it before if you can search around (including issues on the Sunshine repo).

ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture arm64

The second one not enough logs are provided. Please read the logs and it will tell you where to get the full logs.

[romanesko]

while building Sunshine on macOS, the compilation fails in misc.mm with multiple errors like:

error: no type named 'child' in namespace 'boost::process'
error: no type named 'environment' in namespace 'boost::process'
error: no type named 'group' in namespace 'boost::process'
error: no member named 'std_in', 'std_out', 'std_err', or 'limit_handles' in namespace 'boost::process'

these errors occur because the code uses the Boost.Process api as it existed in older versions, while the version installed via homebrew (or system boost) is newer and has migrated most of the api into the boost::process::v1 namespace.
so the compiler cannot find the types and functions in the default boost::process namespace.

it can be fixed by explicitly using the v1 namespace for Boost.Process in src/platform/macos/misc.mm:

namespace bp = boost::process::v1;  // instead of boost::process

this maps all references to the correct version of the api, after it the code compiles successfully

[ReenigneArcher]

How are you compiling? I'm pretty sure this is already fixed in beta/master.

Edit: Yes, it was changed in LizardByte/Sunshine#4253

[romanesko]

i'm just trying to build cloned project with cmake (as far homebrew installation doesn't work)

I don't know why, but it doesn't affect the installation on Mac.

it still uses the next version here:
https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine/blob/adb443f0d1d83f203240860869212fed924c4348/src/platform/macos/misc.mm#L36C11-L36C13

[romanesko]

Here is the log of installing sunshine via homebrew.

cmake
-S
.
-B
build
-G
Unix Makefiles
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/sunshine/2025.924.154138
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
-DCMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK=LAST
-DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON
-DCMAKE_PROJECT_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES=/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cmake/trap_fetchcontent_provider.cmake
-Wno-dev
-DBUILD_TESTING=OFF
-DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk
-DBUILD_WERROR=ON
-DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=23
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/sunshine/2025.924.154138
-DHOMEBREW_ALLOW_FETCHCONTENT=ON
-DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3
-DSUNSHINE_ASSETS_DIR=sunshine/assets
-DSUNSHINE_BUILD_HOMEBREW=ON
-DSUNSHINE_PUBLISHER_NAME='LizardByte'
-DSUNSHINE_PUBLISHER_WEBSITE='https://app.lizardbyte.dev'
-DSUNSHINE_PUBLISHER_ISSUE_URL='https://app.lizardbyte.dev/support'
-DBUILD_DOCS=OFF
-DBOOST_USE_STATIC=OFF

-- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 17.0.0.17000404
-- The CXX compiler identification is AppleClang 17.0.0.17000404
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/mac/super/clang - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/mac/super/clang++ - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
Got from CI '' branch and version '2025.924.154138'
Extracting year and month/day from PROJECT_VERSION: 2025.924.154138
PROJECT_NAME: Sunshine
PROJECT_VERSION: 2025.924.154138
PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR: 2025
PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR: 924
PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH: 154138
CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION: 2025.924.154138
CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR: 2025
CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR: 924
CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH: 154138
PROJECT_YEAR: 2025
PROJECT_MONTH: 09
PROJECT_DAY: 24
CMake Warning at cmake/macros/common.cmake:27 (_find_package):
  Could not find a configuration file for package "Boost" that exactly
  matches requested version "1.87.0".

  The following configuration files were considered but not accepted:

    /opt/homebrew/lib/cmake/Boost-1.89.0/BoostConfig.cmake, version: 1.89.0

Call Stack (most recent call first):
  cmake/dependencies/Boost_Sunshine.cmake:33 (find_package)
  cmake/dependencies/common.cmake:5 (include)
  CMakeLists.txt:57 (include)


-- Boost v1.87.0 package not found in the system. Falling back to FetchContent.
-- Boost: Release build, static libraries, MPI OFF, Python OFF, testing OFF
-- Boost: libraries included: filesystem;locale;log;program_options;system;asio;crc;format;process;property_tree
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD - Success
-- Found Threads: TRUE
-- Performing Test BOOST_ATOMIC_TARGET_X86
-- Performing Test BOOST_ATOMIC_TARGET_X86 - Failed
-- Boost.Context: architecture arm64, binary format mach-o, ABI aapcs, assembler gas, suffix .S, implementation fcontext
-- The ASM compiler identification is AppleClang
-- Found assembler: /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/mac/super/clang
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_INIT_PRIORITY
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_INIT_PRIORITY - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_CXX20_ATOMIC_REF
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_CXX20_ATOMIC_REF - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_BLKSIZE
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_BLKSIZE - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_MTIM
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_MTIM - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_MTIMENSEC
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_MTIMENSEC - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_MTIMESPEC
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_MTIMESPEC - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_BIRTHTIMENSEC
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_BIRTHTIMENSEC - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_BIRTHTIMESPEC
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STAT_ST_BIRTHTIMESPEC - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STATX
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STATX - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STATX_SYSCALL
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_STATX_SYSCALL - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_FDOPENDIR_NOFOLLOW
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_FDOPENDIR_NOFOLLOW - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_DIRENT_D_TYPE
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_DIRENT_D_TYPE - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_POSIX_AT_APIS
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_POSIX_AT_APIS - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_FALLOCATE
-- Performing Test BOOST_FILESYSTEM_HAS_FALLOCATE - Failed
-- Performing Test Iconv_IS_BUILT_IN
-- Performing Test Iconv_IS_BUILT_IN - Failed
-- Found Iconv: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk/usr/lib/libiconv.tbd
-- Found ICU: /opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c@77/include (found version "77.1") found components: data i18n uc
-- Boost.Locale: iconv ON, ICU ON, POSIX ON, std ON, winapi OFF
-- Performing Test BOOST_LOG_TARGET_X86
-- Performing Test BOOST_LOG_TARGET_X86 - Failed
-- Performing Test BOOST_LOG_HAS_LOCK_FREE_ATOMIC_INT32
-- Performing Test BOOST_LOG_HAS_LOCK_FREE_ATOMIC_INT32 - Success
-- Performing Test BOOST_LOG_HAS_NATIVE_SYSLOG
-- Performing Test BOOST_LOG_HAS_NATIVE_SYSLOG - Success
-- Boost.Thread: threading API is pthread
-- Boost include dirs: $<BUILD_INTERFACE:/private/tmp/sunshine-20251117-85593-6w6x64/build/_deps/boost-src/libs/headers/include>
-- Boost libraries: Boost::filesystem;Boost::locale;Boost::log;Boost::program_options;Boost::system;Boost::asio;Boost::crc;Boost::format;Boost::process;Boost::property_tree
-- Looking for fcntl
-- Looking for fcntl - found
-- Looking for ioctl
-- Looking for ioctl - found
-- Looking for poll
-- Looking for poll - found
-- Looking for getaddrinfo
-- Looking for getaddrinfo - found
-- Looking for getnameinfo
-- Looking for getnameinfo - found
-- Looking for gethostbyname_r
-- Looking for gethostbyname_r - not found
-- Looking for gethostbyaddr_r
-- Looking for gethostbyaddr_r - not found
-- Looking for inet_pton
-- Looking for inet_pton - found
-- Looking for inet_ntop
-- Looking for inet_ntop - found
-- Performing Test HAS_MSGHDR_FLAGS
-- Performing Test HAS_MSGHDR_FLAGS - Success
-- Check size of socklen_t
-- Check size of socklen_t - done
-- Check size of QOS_FLOWID
-- Check size of QOS_FLOWID - failed
-- Check size of PQOS_FLOWID
-- Check size of PQOS_FLOWID - failed
-- Found OpenSSL: /opt/homebrew/opt/openssl/lib/libcrypto.dylib (found version "3.6.0")
CMake Warning at third-party/libdisplaydevice/src/CMakeLists.txt:10 (message):
  MacOS is not supported yet.


-- Found PkgConfig: /opt/homebrew/bin/pkg-config (found version "2.5.1")
-- Checking for module 'libcurl'
--   Found libcurl, version 8.17.0
-- Checking for module 'miniupnpc'
--   Found miniupnpc, version 2.3.3
-- Checking for module 'udev'
--   Package 'udev' not found
-- UDEV_FOUND: 
-- Configuring done (68.0s)
CMake Error at cmake/targets/common.cmake:4 (add_executable):
  Cannot find source file:

    /private/tmp/sunshine-20251117-85593-6w6x64/third-party/TPCircularBuffer/TPCircularBuffer.c
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:63 (include)


CMake Error at tests/CMakeLists.txt:61 (add_executable):
  Cannot find source file:

    /private/tmp/sunshine-20251117-85593-6w6x64/third-party/TPCircularBuffer/TPCircularBuffer.c

  Tried extensions .c .C .c++ .cc .cpp .cxx .cu .mpp .m .M .mm .ixx .cppm
  .ccm .cxxm .c++m .h .hh .h++ .hm .hpp .hxx .in .txx .f .F .for .f77 .f90
  .f95 .f03 .hip .ispc


CMake Error at cmake/targets/common.cmake:4 (add_executable):
  No SOURCES given to target: sunshine
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:63 (include)


CMake Error at tests/CMakeLists.txt:61 (add_executable):
  No SOURCES given to target: test_sunshine


CMake Generate step failed.  Build files cannot be regenerated correctly.

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.6.20
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 71358caec4959d8c06b9d469ebc09fa7aa7a210e
Last commit: 2 weeks ago
Branch: stable
Core tap JSON: 12 Nov 11:37 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 12 Nov 11:37 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: nvim
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE: set
HOMEBREW_NO_BOOTSNAP: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.4.5 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.4.5/bin/ruby
CPU: octa-core 64-bit arm_ibiza
Clang: 17.0.0 build 1700
Git: 2.51.2 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.17.0 => /opt/homebrew/opt/curl/bin/curl
macOS: 26.0.1-arm64
CLT: 26.1.0.0.1.1761104275
Xcode: N/A
Rosetta 2: false

HOMEBREW_CC: clang
HOMEBREW_CXX: clang++
MAKEFLAGS: -j8
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH: /opt/homebrew/opt/curl:/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c@77:/opt/homebrew
CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/Current/Headers
CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/Current/Libraries
PKG_CONFIG_PATH: /opt/homebrew/opt/graphviz/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/pkgconf/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/brotli/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/libnghttp2/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/libnghttp3/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/libngtcp2/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/libssh2/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/rtmpdump/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/lz4/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/xz/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/zstd/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/curl/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/miniupnpc/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/opus/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c@77/lib/pkgconfig
PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR: /usr/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/mac/pkgconfig/26
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
HOMEBREW_GIT: git
HOMEBREW_SDKROOT: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX26.sdk
ACLOCAL_PATH: /opt/homebrew/opt/curl/share/aclocal:/opt/homebrew/share/aclocal
PATH: /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/mac/super:/opt/homebrew/opt/cmake/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/doxygen/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/graphviz/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/node/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/pkgconf/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/brotli/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/rtmpdump/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/lz4/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/xz/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/zstd/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/curl/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/miniupnpc/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c@77/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

[ReenigneArcher]

You are missing the submodules. Perhaps you need to clear brew cache.

[romanesko]

Yes! Clearing the cache helped.

[duanxiaosheng]

macosmini4如果我设置了sunshine自启动但是我无法给他设置录屏权限，因为sunshine是一个文件不是程序，致命：启动时无法找到显示器或编码器。
致命：请检查显示器是否已连接并打开电源。

[SwimmingTiger]

This works for me with M4 Mac Mini and macOS Tahoe 26.1:

https://medium.com/@sanjayajosep/how-i-fixed-sunshine-screen-sharing-on-macos-tahoe-the-native-wrapper-method-c6fc45aa1ec6

brew tap LizardByte/homebrew
brew uninstall sunshine
brew install sunshine-beta
brew services stop sunshine-beta
wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/JosephSanjaya/147aa03dbc5eaa5379f1d5c26ffa8824/raw/697a0f68ce9c815ea878c091917a71e5984cf3b2/sunshine_wrapper.sh
chmod +x ./sunshine_wrapper.sh
./sunshine_wrapper.sh
mv Sunshine.app /Applications

Then launch Sunshine.app from Finder /Applications. Then, screen recording and accessibility permissions can be granted normally.

Auto Start?

I can only add Sunshine.app to the login items. This will make it unavailable before I enter my login password, so I had to enable automatic login on macOS. If there's a better way, please let me know.