How to build ClamAV® using the CMake Build System on macOS

Autotools build system has been dropped.
CMake is now the required build system in the ClamAV 0.104.x.
Instead of Autotools (eg: ./configure && make && sudo make install), CMake is required to build ClamAV.
Besides CMake, you need some libclamav dependencies (libpcre2 for RegEx, openssl for Crypto, json-c for JSON) to build ClamAV. And it may also be necessary to install other libraries such as pkg-config.
For further information, see " ClamAV 0.104.0 released" and "Installation Instructions".

Starting with ClamAV 0.105.x, Rust toolchain is required to compile portions of libclamav.
See "Install Rust toolchain".

I'm running the latest feature release ClamAV 1.5.2 on macOS 26.5 Tahoe now.
ClamAV 1.5.2 is available on ClamAVNet Download page!
The release notes are here.

This memorandum describes how to build ClamAV using the CMake build system and includes the following:
  0) Important notes for building ClamAV 1.3.x on macOS Sonoma 14.x.
  1) Install CMake Build System
  2) Install Rust toolchain
  3) Install pkg-config
  4) Install Libcheck/Check
  5) Install PCRE2 Libraries
  6) Install OpenSSL Libraries
  7) Install JSON-C Libraries
  8) Install Ninja Build System
  9) Build ClamAV with CMake Build System
10) Build ClamAV with Ninja Build System
11) Links…

For instructions on how to build ClamAV, please refer to "How to Create a Folder Monitoring Program Using clamdscan on macOS".
Regarding the Autotools build system, see "How to install ClamAV® from the Git sources on macOS".

0) Important notes for building ClamAV 1.3.x on macOS Sonoma 14.x.

1. Building ClamAV 1.3.x on macOS Sonoma 14.x may result in the following fatal error:

clamd
dyld[27427]: Library not loaded: @rpath/libjson-c.5.dylib
  Referenced from: <55D558AB-C718-3171-B72A-CBD668755360> /usr/local/clamXav/sbin/clamd
  Reason: tried: '/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file),
'/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file),
'/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file), 
'/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file)
Abort trap: 6

freshclam
dyld[27450]: Library not loaded: @rpath/libjson-c.5.dylib
  Referenced by: /usr/local/clamXav/bin/freshclam
  Reason: Attempted to use: '/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file),
'/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file), 
'/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file),
'/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib' (no such file),
(security policy does not allow @ path expansion)
Abort trap: 6

2. To solve this problem, make symlinks to '/usr/local/clamXav/lib' as follows:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/json-c/lib/libjson-c.dylib /usr/local/clamXav/lib/libjson-c.5.dylib

3. That's it.
You can use clamAV again.

1) Install CMake

CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software.

1. Download the latest CMake
You can get CMake binary distribution for macOS.
Download CMake.app and place it in the Applications directory.

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v4.3.2/cmake-4.3.2-macos-universal.tar.gz
tar xzf cmake-4.3.2-macos-universal.tar.gz
cp -R ~/cmake-4.3.2-macos-universal/CMake.app /Applications

2. For Command Line Use (to install symlinks to '/usr/local/bin')

sudo "/Applications/CMake.app/Contents/bin/cmake-gui" --install

3. You can confirm the installation:

which cmake
/usr/local/bin/cmake
cmake --version
cmake version 4.3.2

Without using CMake.app you can build binary by yourself.

1. Download the latest CMake

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v4.3.2/cmake-4.3.2.tar.gz
tar xzf cmake-4.3.2.tar.gz

2. Bootstrap CMake

cd cmake-4.3.2
./bootstrap --prefix=/usr/local/cmake

3. Compile and install CMake

make && sudo make install

4. Set search path

export PATH="/usr/local/cmake/bin:$PATH"

2) Install Rust toolchain

1. Download rustup and Install Rust toolchain

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

2. Set search path

export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"

3. You can confirm the installation:

rustup --version
rustup 1.29.0 (28d1352db 2026-03-05)
info: This is the version for the rustup toolchain manager, not the rustc compiler.
info: the currently active `rustc` version is `rustc 1.95.0 (59807616e 2026-04-14)`

rustc --version
rustc 1.95.0 (59807616e 2026-04-14)

cargo --version
cargo 1.95.0 (f2d3ce0bd 2026-03-21)

4. You can maintain the toolchain by periodically executing:

rustup update stable
info: syncing channel updates for stable-aarch64-apple-darwin
info: latest update on 2026-04-16 for version 1.95.0 (59807616e 2026-04-14)
info: removing previous version of component cargo
info: removing previous version of component clippy
info: removing previous version of component rust-docs
info: removing previous version of component rust-std
info: removing previous version of component rustc
info: removing previous version of component rustfmt
info: downloading 6 components
        cargo installed                        8.33 MiB
       clippy installed                        2.81 MiB
    rust-docs installed                       21.27 MiB
     rust-std installed                       26.05 MiB
        rustc installed                       64.52 MiB
      rustfmt installed                        1.44 MiB                                                                   
  stable-aarch64-apple-darwin updated - rustc 1.95.0 (59807616e 2026-04-14) (from rustc 1.94.1 (e408947bf 2026-03-25))

info: checking for self-update (current version: 1.29.0)

3) Install pkg-config

1. Download the latest pkg-config

cd ~
curl -LO https://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz
tar zxf pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz

2. Configure pkg-config

cd pkg-config-0.29.2
export CFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion"
./configure --with-internal-glib --prefix=/usr/local/pkgconfig --host=aarch64-apple-darwin

3. Compile and install pkg-config

make && make check
sudo make install

4. Set search path

export PATH="/usr/local/keyconfig/bin:$PATH"

4) Install Libcheck/Check

1. Download the latest Check

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/libcheck/check/releases/download/0.15.2/check-0.15.2.tar.gz
tar zxf check-0.15.2.tar.gz

2. Configure Check

cd check-0.15.2
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/check

3. Compile and install Check

make && make check
sudo make install

4. Set search path

export PATH="/usr/local/check/bin:$PATH"

5) Install PCRE2 Libraries

1. Download the latest PCRE2

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/download/pcre2-10.47/pcre2-10.47.tar.bz2
tar zxf pcre2-10.47.tar.bz2

2. Configure PCRE2

cd pcre2-10.47
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/pcre2

3. Compile and install PCRE2

make && make check
sudo make install

6) Install OpenSSL Libraries

1. Download the latest OpenSSL

The latest OpenSSL is version 4.0.0, but ClamAV 1.5.2 is currently incompatible with OpenSSL 4.0.x.
When using OpenSSL 4.0.0, the following build errors occur:

This crate is only compatible with OpenSSL (version 1.0.1 through 1.1.1, or 3), or LibreSSL 2.5
through 4.1.x, but a different version of OpenSSL was found. The build is now aborting
due to this version mismatch.

Thus download OpenSSL 3.6.2...

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/openssl/openssl/releases/download/openssl-3.6.2/openssl-3.6.2.tar.gz
tar zxf openssl-3.6.2.tar.gz

2. Configure OpenSSL

cd openssl-3.6.2
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/openssl

3. Compile and install OpenSSL

make && make test
sudo make install

4. Set search path

export PATH="/usr/local/openssl/bin:$PATH"

5. You can confirm the installation:

which openssl
/usr/local/openssl/bin/openssl
openssl version
OpenSSL 3.6.2 7 Apr 2026 (Library: OpenSSL 3.6.2 7 Apr 2026)

7) Install JSON-C Libraries

JSON-C is a JSON implementation in C.

1. Download JSON-C

cd ~
curl -LO https://s3.amazonaws.com/json-c_releases/releases/json-c-0.18.tar.gz
tar xzf json-c-0.18.tar.gz

2. Configure and Generate JSON-C

cd json-c-0.18
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/json-c ..

3. Compile and install JSON-C

make && make test
sudo make install

4. Create Symbolic Link

sudo ln -s /usr/local/json-c/lib/libjson-c.dylib /usr/local/lib/

8) Install Ninja Build System (Optional)

Ninja is a small build system with a focus on speed.
So this is an optional install.

1. Download Ninja

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/archive/v1.13.2.tar.gz
tar xzf v1.13.2.tar.gz

2. Configure and Generate Ninja

cd ninja-1.13.2
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/ninja/ ..

3. Compile and install Ninja

make && make test
sudo make install

4. Create Symbolic Link

sudo ln -s /usr/local/ninja/bin/ninja /usr/local/bin/

5. You can confirm the installation:

which ninja
/usr/local/bin/ninja
ninja --version
1.13.2

9) Build ClamAV with CMake Build System

1. Download the latest feature release ClamAV 1.5.2 from ClamAVNet.

cd ~
curl -LO https://www.clamav.net/downloads/production/clamav-1.5.2.tar.gz
tar zxf clamav-1.5.2.tar.gz

2. Set CMake options and library paths and Configure and Generate.

cd clamav-1.5.2
mkdir build
cd build 
cmake \
-D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/clamXav/ \
-D BYTECODE_RUNTIME="interpreter" \
-D OPTIMIZE=ON \
-D ENABLE_JSON_SHARED=OFF \
-D ENABLE_TESTS=ON \
-D LIBCHECK_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/check \
-D LIBCHECK_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/local/check/include/ \
-D LIBCHECK_LIBRARY=/usr/local/check/lib/libcheck.dylib \
-D OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/openssl/ \
-D OPENSSL_CRYPTO_LIBRARY=/usr/local/openssl/lib/libcrypto.dylib \
-D OPENSSL_SSL_LIBRARY=/usr/local/openssl/lib/libssl.dylib \
-D PCRE2_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/local/pcre2/include/ \
-D PCRE2_LIBRARY=/usr/local/pcre2/lib/libpcre2-8.0.dylib \
-D JSONC_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/local/json-c/include/json-c/ \
-D JSONC_LIBRARY=/usr/local/json-c/lib/libjson-c.dylib \
..

3. You get results as below:

-- Configuring done (32.9s)
-- Generating done (0.8s)
-- Build files have been written to: /Users/xxx/Desktop/clamav-1.5.2/build

4. Compile and make test;

make && make test

5. You get results as below:

Running tests...
Test project /Users/xxx/Desktop/clamav-1.5.2/build
Connected to MAKE jobserver
    Start 1: libclamav
1/6 Test #1: libclamav ........................   Passed    5.31 sec
    Start 2: libclamav_rust
2/6 Test #2: libclamav_rust ...................   Passed    6.76 sec
    Start 3: clamscan
3/6 Test #3: clamscan .........................   Passed    0.04 sec
    Start 4: clamd
4/6 Test #4: clamd ............................   Passed    9.90 sec
    Start 5: freshclam
5/6 Test #5: freshclam ........................   Passed   40.95 sec
    Start 6: sigtool
6/6 Test #6: sigtool ..........................   Passed    0.39 sec

100% tests passed, 0 tests failed out of 6

6. Install ClamAV®

sudo make all install

10) Build ClamAV with Ninja Build System

1. Download the latest feature release ClamAV 1.5.2 from ClamAVNet.

cd ~
curl -LO https://www.clamav.net/downloads/production/clamav-1.5.2.tar.gz

2. Set the build generator to Ninja, set Options and Library Paths, Configure and Generate

cd clamav-1.5.2
mkdir build
cd build 
cmake -G Ninja \
-D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/clamXav/ \
-D ENABLE_JSON_SHARED=OFF \
-D BYTECODE_RUNTIME="interpreter" \
-D ENABLE_TESTS=ON \
-D LIBCHECK_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/check \
-D LIBCHECK_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/local/check/include/ \
-D LIBCHECK_LIBRARY=/usr/local/check/lib/libcheck.dylib \
-D OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/openssl/ \
-D OPENSSL_CRYPTO_LIBRARY=/usr/local/openssl/lib/libcrypto.dylib \
-D OPENSSL_SSL_LIBRARY=/usr/local/openssl/lib/libssl.dylib \
-D PCRE2_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/local/pcre2/include/ \
-D PCRE2_LIBRARY=/usr/local/pcre2/lib/libpcre2-8.0.dylib \
-D JSONC_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/local/json-c/include/json-c/ \
-D JSONC_LIBRARY=/usr/local/json-c/lib/libjson-c.dylib \
..

3. You get results as below:

-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /Users/xxx/clamav-1.5.2/build

4. Compile and make test

ninja && ninja test

5. You get results as below:

Running tests...
Test project /Users/xxx/Desktop/clamav-1.5.2/build
    Start 1: libclamav
1/6 Test #1: libclamav ........................   Passed    5.30 sec
    Start 2: libclamav_rust
2/6 Test #2: libclamav_rust ...................   Passed    6.24 sec
    Start 3: clamscan
3/6 Test #3: clamscan .........................   Passed    0.04 sec
    Start 4: clamd
4/6 Test #4: clamd ............................   Passed    9.90 sec
    Start 5: freshclam
5/6 Test #5: freshclam ........................   Passed   40.94 sec
    Start 6: sigtool
6/6 Test #6: sigtool ..........................   Passed    0.39 sec

100% tests passed, 0 tests failed out of 6

6. Install ClamAV®

sudo ninja install