Installation on macOS

This guide covers the following topics:

  1. Installing Dependencies

  2. Downloading the Repository

  3. Setting up the Build Environment

Note

This guide relies heavily on command-line tools. It assumes you are the least familiar with the macOS Terminal application.

Installing Dependencies

Install those packages or make sure you have them in your system.

When using Homebrew, run the following commands in the terminal:

python3 -m ensurepip
brew install git git-lfs
git lfs install

Downloading the Repository

Simply check out the Blender Manual’s repository using:

cd ~
git clone https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender-manual.git

The repository will now be downloaded which may take a few minutes depending on your internet connection.

Setting up the Build Environment

  • Open a Terminal window.

  • Enter the blender-manual folder which was just added by git clone:

    cd ~/blender-manual
    
  • Install dependencies:

    make setup
    

Note

Every now and then you need to re-run this command, to make sure dependencies are up to date.

Tip

make setup automatically creates a virtual environment using these commands:

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

This avoids interfering with the system Python installation, following PEP 668

The Sphinx command is available at:

.venv/bin/sphinx-build