How to run Erlang natively on Apple M1 chip.

If you are using version 23+, just upgrade your version to 23.2+ then you are able to build and install via package management tools like kerl, homebrew, asdf … etc.

If you’re using some legacy versions, then this article might help you.

I used kerlto build and install Erlang on my Mac,

Build Erlang from kerl

you might see the following error the first time.

~/code » kerl build 21.3.8.19 21.3.8.19                                                               130 
 lvshaochun@lvshaochundeMacBook-Pro
/Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/archives/OTP-21.3.8.19.tar.gz corrupted and redownloading...
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   125  100   125    0     0    365      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   364
100 51.5M    0 51.5M    0     0  4254k      0 --:--:--  0:00:12 --:--:-- 4639k
Extracting source code
Building Erlang/OTP 21.3.8.19 (21.3.8.19), please wait...
Configure failed.
checking OTP release... 21
checking OTP version... 21.3.8.19
configure: error:
You are natively building Erlang/OTP for a later version of MacOSX
  than current version (11.1). You either need to
  cross-build Erlang/OTP, or set the environment variable
  MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET to 11.1 (or a lower version).
Please see /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_build_21.3.8.19.log for full details.

Now we need to do some patch into the source code.

1. Go to the source code folder.

~/code » cd /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_src_21.3.8.19/

2. configure.in file around Line 400, please add && false after int_macos_version like the following code block.

400 #if __ENVIRONMENT_MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED__ > $int_macosx_version && false
401 #error Compiling for a newer MacOSX version...
402 #endif

3. Then we need to patch code by the following PRs.

https://github.com/erlang/otp/pull/2687

(Note: About 2700 PR the change of erts/aclocal.m4 is in erts/configure.in when you change Erlang OTP 20 series.

https://github.com/erlang/otp/pull/2700

https://github.com/erlang/otp/pull/2708

3. Build with the same command again kerl build 21.3.8.19, then you will see the Erlang is building like the following code block.

~/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_src_21.3.8.19 » kerl build 21.3.8.19 21.3.8.19
Extracting source code
Building Erlang/OTP 21.3.8.19 (21.3.8.19), please wait...
APPLICATIONS DISABLED (See: /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_build_21.3.8.19.log)
 * jinterface     : No Java compiler found
 * odbc           : ODBC library - link check failed
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION (See: /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_build_21.3.8.19.log)
 * wx             : wxWidgets not found, wx will NOT be usable
DOCUMENTATION INFORMATION (See: /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_build_21.3.8.19.log)
 * documentation  :
 *                  fop is missing.
 *                  Using fakefop to generate placeholder PDF files.
Erlang/OTP 21.3.8.19 (21.3.8.19) has been successfully built

Install Erlang from kerl.

Command: kerl install 21.3.8.19 ~/.kerl/21.3.8.19

~/.kerl/builds/21.3.8.19/otp_src_21.3.8.19 » kerl install 21.3.8.19 ~/.kerl/21.3.8.19
Installing Erlang/OTP 21.3.8.19 (21.3.8.19) in /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/21.3.8.19...
You can activate this installation running the following command:
. /Users/lvshaochun/.kerl/21.3.8.19/activate
Later on, you can leave the installation typing:
kerl_deactivate

Congratulations

Enjoy the native speed.

A soft reminder, the Erlang development team only supports 2 major releases, please update your Erlang version update to date.

I also upload the patched code on GitHub(you can check the difference with the following link).

https://github.com/oslo0322/erlang_on_m1/commit/e0c2fd8a2cf8b53f8c0e6ffe54ed966ba3281fdc