Why can't MEX find a supported compiler in MATLAB R2015b after I upgraded to Xcode 7.0?

I installed Xcode 7.0 on my Mac and tried to use MEX. I receive the following error at the MATLAB command prompt:

 

>> mex -setup

Error using mex

No supported compiler or SDK was found. For options, visit

http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2015a/maci64.html

 

Why does MATLAB not recognize the Xcode 7.0 installation on my Mac?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

By default, MATLAB R2015b does not detect Xcode 7.x. To add support for Xcode 7.x in MATLAB R2015b, download the files attached to this article. Please follow these instructions to download and install the files (screenshots were taken in Mac OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite):

1) Download the file xcode7_mexopts.zip, which you will find attached to this article. Extract the contents of xcode7_mexopts.zip to your Downloads directory. Extracting the ZIP file will create a directory in Downloads called xcode7_mexopts.

2) Open MATLAB R2015b. Navigate to MATLAB's preference directory by typing the following command in the command window:

>> cd( prefdir );

3) Using MATLAB's "Current Folder" browser, ensure that there are no XML files that begin with "mex_" (e.g. mex_C_maci64.xml). If such files exist, remove them from the preference directory.

4) Navigate to the MATLAB directory. In MATLAB, you can do so by entering the following command at the MATLAB command prompt:

>> cd( fullfile( matlabroot, 'bin', 'maci64', 'mexopts' ) );

5) Back up the original files in the mexopts directory. You can run the following MATLAB commands to back up the files:

>> mkdir mexoptsContentsOLD
>> movefile *.xml mexoptsContentsOLD/

Keep the backup separate from the downloaded files such that you can revert to the backup files if necessary.

6) Replace any files in the mexopts directory with the corresponding files in the Downloads folder, xcode7_mexopts. You can replace the files in MATLAB by entering the following command at the MATLAB command prompt:

>> movefile( '~/Downloads/xcode7_mexopts/*.xml', '.' );

7) Restart MATLAB R2015b. Execute "mex -setup" at the MATLAB command prompt as shown below and verify that MEX detects Xcode 7.0.

>> mex -setup

Alternate Solution:

The SDK needed could be in the Xcode package with the path:

/Applications/XCODE/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk

Please place this in:

/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk 

This should resolve the issue.

If MEX continues to return an error, please contact MathWorks Technical Support.

 

[Erik Reinertsen]

These instructions solved my problem. Thank you so much!

[Derek Gaston]

Unfortunately, this isn't working for me on OSX 10.11.1 with XCode 7.1

[yun-chih chou]

Same solution for Matlab R2014b to detect Xcode7.1 on OSX 10.11.1. Thanks.

[Cuong Pham]

That worked for me. Thank you!

[Brian Chow]

This worked for me. Thank you!

[Orhan]

I tried this on R2014 and it worked. Great directions!

[N Kando]

Worked for me perfectly.

[Rajat Singhal]

Well explained.. Worked for me! Thanks!

[Joseph Cullen]

No go. Still has the same problem.

[Rashwan Almshaal]

Very helpful, thanks a lot

[Alexandre Donze]

For some reason I had to reset Xcode command line tools path with:

sudo xcode-select -r

Try this if it still does not work for you.

[Ewelina Zatorska]

This worked in my case. Thanks!

[Amod Agrawal]

Please update this answer for macOS Sierra, XCode 8 and Matlab 2015b. Thanks!

[Walter Roberson]

Arnod Agrawal, see http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/246507-why-can-t-mex-find-a-supported-compiler-in-matlab-r2015b-after-i-upgraded-to-xcode-7-0#comment_392485

[Amod Agrawal]

Thanks! This worked.

[Shuai Yuan]

Walter Roberson, I tried this for macOS Sierra, Xcode 8.0 and Matlab 2016a, but it didn't work. What should I do? Thanks!

[Walter Roberson]

See https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/303369-mex-cannot-find-a-supported-compiler-in-matlab-r2015b-after-i-upgraded-to-xcode-8-0#answer_235135 if you want my step-by-step instructions on doing this yourself. See https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/243868-mex-can-t-find-compiler-after-xcode-7-update-r2015b#comment_454130 if you want my edited files that have been recently tested for R2016a on MacOS Sierra with the latest XCode.

[Elco Bakker]

This didn't work for me (matlab 2015b, Mac OS 10.12.6 (16G29) ) but this answer did (with the modification that I had to put a '13' in the file name instead of a '12').

[Utkarsh Anand]

using a '13' works out for me somehow.

Thanks for the suggestion Elco

[Landary]

it works when it I place it with 13

[Yingjuan Wu]

works for me. Thanks!!

Answer 2

[Chun-Hsien Lin]

I found this workaround. It works for me.

[Hsi-Ming Chang]

Thank you. This solved my problem.

[Marcel Goldschen]

Yup, this worked for me too. Thanks.

Answer 3

[XIE STONE]

I try and it did not work for me. :(

Any good idea?

[XIE STONE]

WOW ! I know how to fix it !

Just like what Ken Attwell said in his answer, you need to add the following sentence in both clang and clang++ config files

name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.12.sdk" /

>> edit ([matlabroot '/bin/maci64/mexopts/clang++_maci64.xml'])

and

>> edit ([matlabroot '/bin/maci64/mexopts/clang_maci64.xml'])

My Os: 10.11.6 Matlab: R2015b

Now i can use "mex -setup"

Good luck,guys.

[Daniel Gonzalez Montoya]

Thank you XIE STONE!!!!!

Really works.

[Yuqi SHI]

I update My Os: 10.12.1 Matlab: R2015b Xcode:8 this doesn't work.

Can you give me some advice? Thanks a lot.

[Walter Roberson]

You need to make the change in two places.

For me the block looks like

        <ISYSROOT>
            <and>
                <cmdReturns name="xcode-select -print-path"/>
                <or>
                    <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.12.sdk" />
                    <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk" />
                    <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.10.sdk" />
                    <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk" />          
                    <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.12.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.12.sdk'" />
                    <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.11.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.11.sdk'" />
                    <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.10.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.10.sdk'" />
                    <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.9.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.9.sdk'" />
                </or>
            </and>
        </ISYSROOT>
        <SDKVER>
            <and>
                <and>
                    <cmdReturns name="xcode-select -print-path"/>
                    <or>
                        <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.12.sdk" />
                        <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk" />
                        <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.10.sdk" />
                        <dirExists name="$$/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk" />
                        <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.12.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.12.sdk'" />
                        <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.11.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.11.sdk'" />
                        <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.10.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.10.sdk'" />
                        <cmdReturns name="find $$ -name MacOSX10.9.sdk | egrep 'MacOSX10.9.sdk'" />
                    </or>
                </and>
                <cmdReturns name="echo $$ | rev | cut -c1-10 | rev | egrep -oh '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+'" />
            </and>
        </SDKVER>

[Ho Ha]

Perfect! Thanks.

[Marcelo Forets]

you made my day !!!

.. worked in matlab r2016a, mac osx el capitan v.10.11.6, xcode v.8.2.1

[Marie]

Perfect, thank you!

Matlab r2016a, mac osx 10.11, xcode 8

[wyf]

thanks

[Jianyang Shi]

Perfect! Thanks.

[Darshan Patil]

Thanks!

[lio jello]

it really works, thanks

Answer 4

[Hamid Sarfraz]

 mex -setup

MEX configured to use 'Xcode with Clang' for C language compilation.

Warning: The MATLAB C and Fortran API has changed to support MATLAB variables with more than 2^32-1 elements. In the near future you will be required to update your code to utilize the new API. You can find more information about this at: http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/upgrading-mex-files-to-use-64-bit-api.html.

To choose a different language, select one from the following:

 mex -setup C++ 

 mex -setup FORTRAN

MEX configured to use 'Xcode Clang++' for C++ language compilation.

Warning: The MATLAB C and Fortran API has changed to support MATLAB variables with more than 2^32-1 elements. In the near future you will be required to update your code to utilize the new API. You can find more information about this at: http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/upgrading-mex-files-to-use-64-bit-api.html.

Error using mex

No supported compiler or SDK was found. For options, visit http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2015b/maci64.html.

any explanation(solution) for this ?

[Esha Bhargava]

If the workaround provided above does not work for you, please contact MathWorks Technical Support.

Answer 5

[Brigitte Reniers]

I did all that and I still get this error:

mex Gamma4DCPU.cpp
Building with 'Xcode Clang++'.
Error using mex
/Users/brigitte/Documents/SmartScientificSolutions/Code/Gamma4D/Gamma4DCPU.cpp:111:10:
fatal error: 'malloc.h' file not found
#include <malloc.h>
         ^
1 error generated.

Does anybody know what it's about?

[Xiaoyu Sun]

I also get this error.did you solve this problem successfully?

Answer 6

[Pascal]

worked for me. Perfectly. Thanks

[Richa Gupta]

If the workaround provided above does not work for you, please contact MathWorks Technical Support.

Answer 7

[Wichchuwon Sookchaisri]

really thanks! It works!

Answer 8

[cihat tek]

for windows ?

 >> mex -setup
 Error using mex
 No supported compiler or SDK was found. For options, visit
 http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2015a/maci64.html.

[Walter Roberson]

The error message suggests you are on OS-X but your question has to do with MS Windows?

For OS-X you should follow the instructions above.

Answer 9

[Hitham]

I have the same problem. I am using MATLAB R2014b (It is said, No supported compiler or SDK was found. For options, visit http://www.mathworks.com/content/dam/mathworks/mathworks-dot-com/support/sysreq/files/SystemRequirements-Release2014b_SupportedCompilers.pdf ).

How to fix it?

[Esha Bhargava]

If the workaround provided above does not work for you, please contact MathWorks Technical Support.

[Vandana Ravichandran]

What is your platform and Xcode version? Note that the supported compilers for MATLAB R2014b are Xcode 4.6+ and Xcode 5.0

Answer 10

[Bhavesh Dharmani]

I have installed just the Xcode command line tools and it is installed at /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools. So, whether the same solution will work for me?

I have also changed [matlabroot '/bin/maci64/mexopts/clang_maci64.xml'] and [matlabroot '/bin/maci64/mexopts/clang++_maci64.xml'] to search corresponding to mac OSX 10.11. But, nothing works to setup mex.

[Richa Gupta]

Bhavesh, I would suggest contacting MathWorks Technical Support.

Answer 11

[viktor navorski]

Thank you. The problem was solved on OS X 10.11.6 (15G31)

Answer 12

[ahmed ali]

i want to ask about the detailed steps to download minGW-compiler for mex files for matlab 2015b

[Walter Roberson]

minGW is not a supported compiler for OS-X (which is what this Question is about). minGW is a port of gcc to MS Windows specifically, and is not relevant to other operating systems.

[Anudeep Katragadda]

@ahamed ali Here is a link from MathWorks documentation that might help you: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/install-mingw-support-package.html

Answer 13

[Fateh Benma]

i have this error !! why ?? any help >> mex -setup Warning: Xcode appears to be installed, but it has not been configured. Run "osascript -e 'do shell script "xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app" with administrator privileges'" to configure Xcode. You must be an administrator of this computer to complete this action.

Error using mex No supported compiler or SDK was found. For options, visit http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2014a/win64. >>

Answer 14

[Yang Gao]

Hi! I have problem with my Matlab_R2019a, and my Xcode version is 11. MacOS version 10.14.5.

I can't find any string that contains MacOSX10.12.sdk or similiar string in my clang and clang++ file.

[Stephanie Wiechers]

Hi! It does not work with xcode 11. You'll have to download an older version of xcode (eg 8).