How to obtain a GCC on Mac OS X 10.11.6

Sign up for a "Free" Developer account

<https://developer.apple.com/register/index.action>

Then go to

<https://developer.apple.com/download/more>

and get a version of Xcode that works on your system. Xcode 4.2 may work, if not, get an older version.

Also get the command line tools.

NOTE: Somewhere along the way, Apple switched to the "clang" compilers. So if the command 'gcc' does not work, try just 'cc'

Apple does not include the actual GNU C/C++ compiler in the command-line tool for Xcode, or Xcode itself. There is a gcc/g++ "compatibility" command that is available, but it is a special build of clang/clang++ that is using older gcc compatibility (--with-gxx-include-dir) include files.

If your school expects you to be using the current GNU C/C++ compiler (7.2.0), or a specific other version of it, then you will need the Apple clang/clang++ compiler installed, in order to compile the GNU C/C++ compiler. This compilation could take an hour depending on your particular Mac.

Here are the steps:

1. Sign up for the free Apple Developer account per Bob Harris suggestion. Use the same Apple ID/password that you use to sign into this community when you set up that account.
2. For El Capitan (10.11.6) you will need one or both of the following from developer.apple.com/download/more:
   1. Xcode 8.2.1 (last release for El Capitan)
   2. Command Line Tools (macOS 10.11) for Xcode 8.2 (last release for El Capitan)
   3. Programmer's editor if you do not plan to use Xcode

      BBEdit, Sublime Text 3, Komodo Edit, Visual Studio Code, MacVim, etc.

3. To get the real GNU C/C++ package (and its libraries) installed into the /usr/local tree:
   1. Install Homebrew package manager
      $ brew update
      $ brew upgrade
      $ brew search gcc # this will show several versions of it
      $ brew info gcc # specific information on the current compiler including dependencies
      $ brew install gcc # your MacBook Air on the charger
      $ brew cleanup # free up disk space. Only run after brew upgrade has installed newer versions
   2. Visit the GNU Compiler site for documentation, and other information

Above all, comply with your schools requirements especially with the version of compiler.

NOTE: If this is just introductory C, then chances are the LLVM Clang compiler will work perfectly OK.

If you are going to be working on an existing project with an extensive code base, it is possible there may be some GCC compiler specific #pragma's or gcc -command-line-options used to build the existing code..