MacOS static binaries

[aymanbagabas]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The releases page lacks a Darwin statically linked MacOS binaries.

Describe the solution you'd like
Build for Darwin/MacOS

[tsl0922]

Sorry, no plan for it, PRs are welcomed.

If you have trouble with brew on MacOS Ventura, check https://github.com/orgs/Homebrew/discussions/3822

[ofcRS]

ttyd builds cleanly from source on macOS (no Homebrew needed)

Thanks for leaving the door open with "no plan, but PRs welcome" — totally understand the stance. Wanted to share a concrete data point for anyone who lands here wanting macOS binaries.

ttyd builds cleanly from source on macOS. I verified a from-source 1.7.7 build on Apple Silicon (arm64): the third-party deps (OpenSSL 3.6.1, libwebsockets 4.5.7, libuv 1.52.1, json-c 0.18) link statically from source, zlib resolves to the macOS system libz, and otool -L on the result shows only macOS system libraries — CoreFoundation, CoreServices, IOKit, /usr/lib/libz, /usr/lib/libutil, /usr/lib/libSystem. (System libz/libSystem staying dynamic is normal and unavoidable on macOS, which ships no static libSystem.) So the binary is self-contained with respect to third-party code.

The recipe mirrors scripts/cross-build.sh — same pinned dep versions, same libwebsockets flag set — with only the macOS-specific swaps: native clang instead of musl, OpenSSL darwin64-{arm64,x86_64}-cc, BSD sed -i '', and (since -static is impossible on macOS) -framework CoreFoundation -framework CoreServices -framework IOKit -Wl,-dead_strip in place of -static, then strip -S. Full self-contained script + notes here: https://gist.github.com/ofcRS/4efc3b945765e7b4b1ff432c439dd460

I went ahead and opened #1553 with exactly this — a native macos job in backend.yml (a macos-14 + macos-13 matrix, same ttyd.<target> artifact convention, so it slots into the existing release.yml publish step with no changes there) plus a short build guide, following the precedent of the existing native msvc job. Totally happy to close it or scope it down to docs-only if you'd rather — no pressure to merge.

One honest caveat worth deciding up front: CI-built binaries would be unsigned and un-notarized, so anyone downloading them from Releases hits Gatekeeper ("cannot be opened" / "is damaged") until they run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ttyd (or right-click → Open once). Real signing/notarization needs your Apple Developer ID + CI secrets — a contributor can't supply that, and I wouldn't want to imply the artifacts are signed when they aren't. Locally built binaries aren't affected.

Would you prefer (a) CI-built unsigned binaries with a clear quarantine note, (b) docs-only build instructions, or (c) not worth it right now? Happy to follow your call — and happy to drop the Intel leg if the macos-13 runner retirement makes it not worth maintaining.