installing Ghostscript as a framework on Mojave & Catalina

dushan2_8 wrote:

I've used a plotting app named GLE up through High Sierra on my 2012 Mac Pro, but am now having trouble installing it on Mojave (and soon Catalina). It requires Ghostscript installed as a framework. I found directions for doing that on the internet (e.g. <https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/GPDL.html>), but with my lack of background they are too technical and cryptic to follow. Are there any more detailed sets of steps available I can follow to do this? I do know how to use Terminal.

Those are not the installation instructions.

First, you will need to have the Xcode Command Line Tools installed. I think you can just try running "clang" or "git" and, when prompted, install the Command Line Tools. You don't actually need to run the tool, it's just to trigger the proxy app to install the tools.

Once you have Xcode Command Line Tools installed, then download and build Ghostscript according to: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Make.html#

It's actually pretty simple, as far as such things go. You just need to download the tarball and expand it. Then build it. The instructions are more complicated than they need to be.

1. Download the tarball from: https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl-downloads/releases/download/gs10030/ghostscript-10.03.0.tar.gz
2. In Terminal, navigate to your Downloads folder and expand the tarball with: "tar zxvf ghostscript-10.03.0.tar". (Depending on your Safari settings, you may or may not have an extra ".gz" at the of that file name.)
3. Then, again in Terminal, navigate to that new "ghostscript-10.03.0" folder and configure with: "./configure"
4. Next, build the source with "make -j 8". (Really you only need "make". I added "-j 8" to speed it up with a parallel build.)
5. When that part completes, install with "sudo make install".

And you're done. If only most open source projects could be this easy.

You should first check with the GLE app vendor that their application is a pure 64-bit application and remains supported beyond macOS High Sierra. If not, you are done, as Catalina and later require 64-bit (compatible) applications.

If you perceived the Ghostscript API and/or instructions on how to build Ghostscript from source on macOS as too technical, then you should stop now. You cannot have the Ghostscript API without building Ghostscript itself using a compiler. Since macOS does not ship with compilation tools, you would need to install Apple's command line tools for Xcode in a version appropriate for your operating system, and then if any Ghostscript dependencies exist during the compilation phase, know how to resolve them.

There is no simple end user instructions beyond the first paragraph. I suggest that you do some research and determine if there is a modern plotting replacement for GLE that does not require you to fool with Ghostscript or build code.