MacOS prerequisites

Install Xcode Command Line Tools

To install Xcode Command Line Tools, execute the following on the command line and follow the instructions:

xcode-select --install

Install Java Development Kit

Open https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-downloads.html and follow the instructions to install the latest JDK.

Install a package manager

You will need to choose between Homebrew and MacPorts for your package manager. Note that you should not use both the same time, since the way Homebrew works might interfere with MacPorts compiling its package binaries.

Using MacPorts is recommended, since it’s better at isolating packages from OS changes and makes older (officially unsupported) versions of packages available. In particular, it makes installing older versions of PHP with some non-standard extensions trivial, while with Homebrew you will have to use 3rd party taps and build extension binaries manually.

Aside from that, both MacPorts and Homebrew will do fine, and this documentation provides necessary instructions for both.

Install MacPorts

Visit https://www.macports.org/install.php and follow the instructions to install MacPorts.

Install Homebrew

Note: Do not install Homebrew if you already installed MacPorts.

Visit https://brew.sh/ and follow the instructions to install Homebrew.