How to run CocoaPods on Apple Silicon (M1)

Question

I have a Flutter project that I'm trying to run on iOS. It runs normally on my Intel-based Mac, but on my new Apple Silicon-based M1 Mac it fails to install pods.

LoadError - dlsym(0x7f8926035eb0, Init_ffi_c): symbol not found - /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/ffi-1.13.1/lib/ffi_c.bundle
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/ffi-1.13.1/lib/ffi.rb:6:in `rescue in <top (required)>'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/ffi-1.13.1/lib/ffi.rb:3:in `<top (required)>'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/ethon-0.12.0/lib/ethon.rb:2:in `<top (required)>'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/typhoeus-1.4.0/lib/typhoeus.rb:2:in `<top (required)>'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/sources_manager.rb:74:in `cdn_url?'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/sources_manager.rb:36:in `create_source_with_url'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/sources_manager.rb:21:in `find_or_create_source_with_url'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer/analyzer.rb:178:in `block in sources'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer/analyzer.rb:177:in `map'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer/analyzer.rb:177:in `sources'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer/analyzer.rb:1073:in `block in resolve_dependencies'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/user_interface.rb:64:in `section'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer/analyzer.rb:1072:in `resolve_dependencies'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer/analyzer.rb:124:in `analyze'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer.rb:414:in `analyze'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer.rb:239:in `block in resolve_dependencies'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/user_interface.rb:64:in `section'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer.rb:238:in `resolve_dependencies'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/installer.rb:160:in `install!'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/command/install.rb:52:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/claide-1.0.3/lib/claide/command.rb:334:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/lib/cocoapods/command.rb:52:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/cocoapods-1.10.0/bin/pod:55:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/local/bin/pod:23:in `load'
/usr/local/bin/pod:23:in `<main>'

Based on a Github workaround, I tried to run Terminal using rosetta, but the issue remains the same: https://github.com/CocoaPods/CocoaPods/issues/9907#issuecomment-655870749

Realising it's still early for Macs with Apple Silicon. Is there a way to make this work for the time being?

Answer 1

2022 Nov Update

If you can use Homebrew to manage cocoapods.

# Uninstall the local cocoapods gem
sudo gem uninstall cocoapods

# Reinstall cocoapods via Homebrew
brew install cocoapods

---

2021 Solution

# STEP 1: Install ffi
sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi

# STEP 2: Re-install dependencies
arch -x86_64 pod install

Additional Information

#1 For anyone seeing the arch: posix_spawnp: gem: Bad CPU type in executable error, you must first install Rosetta. Thanks, @Jack Dewhurst

#2 If you run pod commands pretty often, setting up an alias in .zshrc or .bash_profile might be handy. Thanks, @theMoonlitKnight for the suggestion.

alias pod='arch -x86_64 pod'

Answer 2

TL;DR:

• Install your own version of Ruby with Homebrew / rbenv / RVM (e.g. brew install ruby)
• Add it and the gems binaries to your PATH and make sure the new version is used with which ruby (should be /opt/homebrew/opt/ruby/bin/ruby instead of /usr/bin/ruby if installed with Homebrew)
• Install CocoaPods with sudo gem install cocoapods (make sure ethon is at least version 0.13.0)
• Run pod install

Detailed answer:

All answers suggesting using Rosetta / arch -x86_64 are workarounds and not quite solving the real issue that comes from the way RbConfig and the universal binaries work.

require 'rbconfig'

OSVERSION = RbConfig::CONFIG['host_os']
ARCH = RbConfig::CONFIG['arch']
HOSTCPU = RbConfig::CONFIG['host_cpu']
BUILDCPU = RbConfig::CONFIG['build_cpu']
TARGETCPU = RbConfig::CONFIG['target_cpu']

puts "OS: #{OSVERSION}"
puts "Arch: #{ARCH}"
puts "Host CPU: #{HOSTCPU}"
puts "Build CPU: #{BUILDCPU}"
puts "Target CPU: #{TARGETCPU}"

If you call ruby on a file containing this code with the universal binary shipped with macOS, you will get the following result on an M1 Mac:

OS: darwin20
Arch: universal-darwin20
Host CPU: x86_64
Build CPU: x86_64
Target CPU: universal

As you can see, RbConfig was compiled for a « universal » CPU but built with an x86 CPU, and the rbconfig.rb file that was generated (see /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/lib/ruby/2.6.0/universal-darwin20/rbconfig.rb) consequently uses invalid information for the host CPU.

As ffi uses information from RbConfig (see https://github.com/ffi/ffi/blob/dfae59e293974efaa7b4d414e5116d7a2187a06e/lib/ffi/platform.rb#L61 and https://github.com/ffi/ffi/blob/e3f2cf9b82055709ddbeecbf77810f43438c4b64/spec/ffi/fixtures/compile.rb#L11), we end up with OP’s error message.

The solution is, therefore, to get a version of Ruby built specifically for arm64 by using either Homebrew, rbenv or RVM.

For Homebrew:

• Execute brew install ruby
• Add export PATH=/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby/bin:/opt/homebrew/lib/ruby/gems/3.0.0/bin:$PATH to your .zshrc (you can find your Homebrew installation directory with $(brew --prefix) if needed) (replace 3.0.0 with your actual ruby version)
• Execute source ~/.zshrc or restart your shell
• Make sure you are using the correct ruby binary by executing which ruby (should be $(brew --prefix)/opt/ruby/bin/ruby)
• Install CocoaPods with sudo gem install cocoapods
• Make sure you are using the correct pod binary by executing which pod (should be $(brew --prefix)/lib/ruby/gems/3.0.0/bin/pod)
• Make sure ethon is version 0.13.0 or more with gem info ethon, otherwise run sudo gem install ethon
• Run pod install

Ruby won't come with future macOS versions by default

Moreover, it should be noted that ruby is still included in macOS only « for compatibility with legacy software », as evidenced by running irb -v, so this is probably a good opportunity to install your own version anyway:

WARNING: This version of ruby is included in macOS for compatibility with legacy software. In future versions of macOS the ruby runtime will not be available by default and may require you to install an additional package.

irb 1.0.0 (2018-12-18)

Sources:

• https://betterprogramming.pub/ruby-on-apple-silicon-m1-macs-fb159849b2f5
• https://github.com/ffi/ffi/issues/870

Answer 3

EDIT: I recently disabled Rosetta, and Cocoapods runs just fine with the addition of the ffi gem.

For anyone else struggling with this issue, I just found a way to solve it. In addition to running terminal in Rosetta:

1. Right-click on Terminal in Finder
2. Get Info
3. Open with Rosetta

I installed a gem that seems to be related to the symbol not found in the error:

sudo gem install ffi

After doing this, cocoapods runs as expected.

Answer 4

To install completely cocoapods on Mac with M1 chip (Apple Silicon), please follow these steps:

1. Duplicate the Terminal application in the Utilities folder.
2. Right-click on the app and choose to Get Info.
3. Rename the other version of the app as you like.
4. Check the option "open with Rosetta".
5. Install Cocoapods with the command "sudo gem install cocoapods"
6. Type the command line "gem install ffi" to fix the ffi bundle problem. Now you can do a "pod install" without a problem.

Source : iPhoneSoft

Answer 5

Simplest way I found :

sudo gem uninstall cocoapods

brew install cocoapods

Answer 6

An alternative to running Terminal in Rosetta 2 is to set the architecture with arch -x86_64, as in the following:

arch -x86_64 sudo gem install cocoapods -n /usr/local/bin

To give credit where it is due, I found this solution here

MacPorts bug tracker, issue #61545, comment 7

Answer 7

1. Execute below to install the required ffi :

   sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi

2. Instead of pod install use :

   arch -x86_64 pod install

Answer 8

UPDATE 28th MARCH

1- arch -x86_64 sudo gem install cocoapods -n /usr/local/bin

2- arch -x86_64 sudo gem install ffi

3- pod install

No need to duplicate or Open with Rosetta

Answer 9

There is a much "better/easier?" way by way of using homebrew now that waters have settled, if you have homebrew install just run

brew install cocoapods

this will install ruby and libyaml as preconditions, so far this is the most straightforward way (and the one, most probably, to be recommended moving forward).

Answer 10

Basically tried all solutions listed here.

$ arch -arm64 brew install cocoapods

finally did it for me.

Before doing that, be sure to have homebrew correctly installed with /opt/homebrew being the prefix. This article provides pretty good instructions on this.

Edit: Another option is to remove all your flutter and dart files and just use homebrew for the complete installation process as shown here. This also worked for me on M1 Pro.

Answer 11

Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile Development

If you're here because you got this error while running kdoctor

[email protected] is working for me so:

brew install [email protected]

Switch to the newly installed Ruby version:

brew link --overwrite [email protected]

Then install CocoaPods:

brew install cocoapods

Answer 12

Please use this below code: -

arch -x86_64 pod install

This will definitely work, under any circumstances.

Answer 13

Working in Sept 2021, Mac M1

I just want to add to Medhi's answer, to do a "pod repo update" within the same terminal inside the iOS folder, because that was critically fixing the error for me.

Here's the complete To-do-list:

1. Duplicate the Terminal application in the Utilities folder.

2. Right click on the app and choose "Get Info".

3. Rename the other version of the app as you like.

4. Check the option "open with Rosetta".

5. Install Cocoapods with the command sudo gem install cocoapods

6. Type the command line sudo gem install ffi to fix the ffi bundle problem.

7. Go to the iOS folder of your app in the same terminal

8. Do pod repo update

9. Now you can do a pod install without a problem.

Answer 14

The following solution work for me on my Apple M1 machine.

I've spent over a week searching for a solution to install CocoaPods successfully on a M1 machine. You may see if my method works for you or not.

The solution requires the Terminal.app to be running in "Rosetta" mode.

But it does not required the Terminal to be running in x86.

[Environment]

Mac mini (M1, 2020) / macOS Big Sur (Version 11.5.2) / Xcode Version 13.0 (13A233)

---

Terminal + Rosetta

(Rosetta is required on CocoaPods installation)

To run the terminal.app in "Rosetta" mode,

Right click the Terminal.app > Select "Get Info" > Make sure "Open using Rosetta" is checked.

---

Steps

(1) Run the following lines for updating gem.

Make sure you gem version is up-to-date before executing any commands following. The update is introduced by this article on Medium.

sudo gem update -n /usr/local/bin --system

sudo gem install  -n /usr/local/bin cocoapods --pre

(2) Execute the commands using the "sudo" command.

sudo gem install

(3) Install an older version of CocoaPods

As the latest version (1.10.0) cannot be installed for my case. I've tried installing an older version. The line execute successfully without any error messages.

You may check the thread on Apple's forum.

sudo gem install -n /usr/local/bin cocoapods -v 1.8.4

---

Solutions on Error

Then, the compiler may bring you some error, like "active developer path do not exist". This error would shown if you've installed a beta version of Xcode on your machine.

You would need run following lines for the compiler to switch to a new active path, pointing to the new Xcode app.

sudo xcode-select --switch ／Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

If your Xcode refuses to switch, you may check out this thread on Apple's forum to see if it helps.

---

Final Step

(1) Uncheck "Open using Rosetta"

Then, may go back to the "info" panel and uncheck "Open using Rosetta", but unchecking Rosetta is optional. You may keep the box checked if it is needed.

(2) Run CocoaPods commands as usual

After that, you can back to the project directory and run commands pod init to initiate the CocoaPods for your project as usual

Steps for a normal CocoaPods build:

1. pod init
2. open Podfile
3. edit Podfile (for specifying pods)
4. pod install
5. The .xcworkspace is ready to be opened in Xcode.

Use sudo xcodebuild -license if you've faced an error (regarding to Xcode registration).

Answer 15

Install cocoapods

sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi

Install pod file

arch -x86_64 pod install

Update pod

arch -x86_64 pod update

Answer 16

Pod Not installing on M1 Chip MAC ??? No worries

run below three commands : -

pod deintegrate

sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi

arch -x86_64 pod install

it works !!

Answer 17

Mac M1 MacOS BigSur solution:

brew cleanup -d -v    
brew install cocoapods
brew link --overwrite cocoapods

Answer 18

If your case is that you've updated your project and already have ffi installed, you will need to run this:

arch -x86_64 pod install --repo-update

Answer 19

Try $ sudo gem install ffi. It works fine for me.

Answer 20

this is what i got when trying to instal ffi in native terminal:

Fetching ffi-1.13.1.gem
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing ffi:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    current directory: /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/ffi-1.13.1/ext/ffi_c

switching to Rosetta enabled terminal, installing "gem install cocoapods" fails on

You don't have write permissions for the /usr/bin directory.

but then installation of ffi was successful...

Finally solved it with

sudo gem install cocoapods -n /usr/local/bin

Answer 21

As of version 1.10.1 Jan 7, 2021, CocoaPods is now supporting the new M1 chip.

Answer 22

IN MAC M1, for anyone using KMM (Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile), but it may work for other, finding that it does not create files on the .xcworkspace for the iOS APP, when using CocoaPods as dependency manager, first install CocoaPods by typing

sudo gem install cocoapods

than navigate to your project folder, now on the iOS folder and type

sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi
arch -x86_64 pod install

Now you should find all the files in iOS workspace. If you have problems with

/Users/$name/$directory/$projectName/$iosFolderName/$iosAppName.xcodeproj 
The linked and embedded framework 'Pods_iosApp.framework' is missing one or more architectures required by this target: x86_64.

You need to add arm64 to xCode, click on the project folder -> Build Settings -> and search for Excluded Architectures and add arm64

Answer 23

This is how I solved my problem in M1. Someone might be helped.

From System preference. User & group. Set login shell as

   /bin/bash 

Then close the terminal and reopen it.run this command

sudo gem install -n /usr/local/bin cocoapods -v 1.8.4

Hopefully, this will works.

Answer 24

I've been having the same issue. I did find that the cocoa pods UI app seems to work as expected.

Answer 25

I had the same issue and this is what helped me. Open the terminal and type the below command :

arch -x86_64 sudo gem install ffi

Answer 26

For updating pods, maybe someone will help:

After installing ffi:

sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi

Update dependencies

arch -x86_64 pod update

Answer 27

I have got solution for this for cocoapods installation.

There is basically 2 ways to install cocoa pods.

1. install cocoapods via Homebrew:

brew install cocoapods

2. install cocoapods via gem:

sudo gem install ffi

if you are facing issue with Apple M1 or Apple M2 chip

First terminal with Rosetta

• Right click on the Terminal application and select op.
• Right click on the app and choose "Get Info".
• Check the option "open with Rosetta".

you may go for following command:

sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi

once finish installation try with following command:

arch -x86_64 pod install

Answer 28

Install pod in project without using rosetta terminal just follow below steps

• sudo arch -x86_64 gem install ffi
• arch -x86_64 pod install

Answer 29

I have a twist to this answer:

1. run

sudo gem install ffi

2. the twist: I restarted my machine and then it worked.

Answer 30

I had the same problem with my new MacBook Air M1 just because m1 has a different architecture we should install packages with Rosetta Translation Environment.

You can solve most compatibilities by using rosetta.

STEPS TO SOLVE:

1. Open finder/applications
2. Duplicate your terminal
3. Right-click the new terminal and check the checkbox [x] open using

and then install packages with this terminal