This project is aimed at supporting modern open-source software for macOS on PowerPC. It provides a fork of MacPorts with added fixes and improvements for powerpc-apple-darwin, as well as the port tree, tarballs of pre-built packages and other related resources.
A primary focus here is macOS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) run natively on Apple PowerPC machines. The reference system is 10.6.8 (development thread; installable images). Leopard is supported for ppc64, but testing is limited. Any support for Tiger is community-based.
Recommended way to install PowerPC Ports on 10.6 PPC:
0. Install Xcode 3.2.6 and toolchain components (see details here).
1. Install bootstrap curl (needed, since Apple-provided one is archaic and cannot support https; installs into `/opt/bootstrap`).
2. Install our PowerPC Ports (installs into `/opt/local`).
3. Review config files in `/opt/local/etc/macports` and modify if needed.
Alternatively, build from source, borrowing fixes from here. Ports sources are available as an archive or in this repo.
P. S. The same procedure works for 10.6.8 Rosetta, including a VM.
For 10.5.8 (ppc/ppc64) use these curl and PPCPorts base.
Overview of available software and recommended apps per category can be found here.
Check what is available pre-built for 10.6.8.
This work started in 2022, and most fixes and improvements before the end of 2024 have been merged into MacPorts upstream. However, certain fundamental ones have not been accepted due to resistance from some MacPorts team members. Since 2025 all further development is done in PowerPC Ports repository.
Toolchain and core ports are independent from MacPorts now.
Contributions from developers are very much welcomed. You may open PRs to PowerPC Ports repo at GitHub. Bug reports are accepted here. There are also discussions.
Everything C/C++ works, including C++23. We use the current releases of libstdc++ (libc++ is at llvm-7 level and largely untested). Fortran is fully supported; recently we added powerpc-apple-darwin implementation for ieee_arithmetic into GCC. Perl, Python, R, Lisp, Ruby, ML, Scheme, Erlang work. Java is partially supported (openjdk8, at the moment headless). OCaml works fine, but only via bytecode.
If you could contribute to fixing Palemoon forks (White Star, Arctic Fox) for macOS PowerPC, please reach out. This is a major issue. Improvements to X server and SDL would be great. OpenJDK needs X11 fixed. And then there are broken LLVM, V8, Go, D and Rust.
If you like what we are doing and find it useful, you may consider donating to support on-going development via liberapay or PayPal. This is a hobby project, we have no funding.
This project would not be possible without work done by GCC upstream to support a modern compiler for Darwin PowerPC, in particular Iain Sandoe, and contribution by Kirill Korinsky, who designed its implementation for legacy macOS in MacPorts. A lot of work to improve Snow Leopard for PowerPC has been done by EduCovas. Some features used in PowerPC Ports are based on MacStrop project.
Every website published in Germany, Austria or Switzerland must to have an impressum by law. This is ours.
Regarding PowerPC Ports project or macOS on PowerPC in general you may reach us at this address.
This website and infrastructure are supported by company Catap Solutions. If you have a complaint, please contact us. We prefer cooperation to litigation.
Catap Solutions UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
diese vertr. d. d. Geschäftsführer Kirill Korinskii
Hardenbergstraße 12
10623 Berlin
Deutschland
legal@catap.de
USt-IdNr.: DE320400037
eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichtes Charlottenburg (Berlin)
Handelsregisternummer HRB 196688 B
We also respect common mailbox names as it described in RFC 2142, feel free to use them.
If you wish to send spam, please use: spamtrap@catap.net. Danke schön!
The information on this website is provided on an as-is basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. The authors make no warranties or representations of any kind concerning any information contained in this website. This website is provided only as general information. The authors expressly disclaim all liabilities with respect to actions taken or not taken based upon the information contained herein or with respect to any errors or omissions in such information.
This website does not use cookies or any other tracking techniques and does not collect any information about its users. However, this website may collect server logs for debugging purposes only and for a short period of time without any notice. The debug logs may contain IP addresses. Such debug logs will be deleted after the end of the relevant debug session.
Furthermore, servers which support this website are accessible via the SSH protocol, which collects and logs any attempted login, both successful and unsuccessful, for a period up to two months. This information includes the IP address, login name, and fingerprint of the offered public key.