# Latest rclone version on older macOS systems - how to build unnoficial but working rclone **URL:** \ **Category:** Howto Guides\ **Created:** [November 30, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857 "2024-11-30T17:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aethondon](https://forum.rclone.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Aethondon](https://forum.rclone.org/u/Aethondon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/1 "2024-11-30T17:48:45Z")
**STOP and READ** **USE THIS TEMPLATE** **NO EXCEPTIONS** - By not using this, you waste your time, our time and really hate puppies. Please remove these two lines and that will confirm you have read them. #### What is the problem you are having with rclone? Hi, I'm sorry in advance for what I suspect may be a technologically illiterate question. I use an old macbook pro which works perfectly well but cannot run anything higher than OS 10.13 High Sierra. Annoyingly the protonmail desktop app does not work on this OS so I am trying to see if I can use rclone instead. I've downloaded rclone 1.63.1 which I believe is the latest version that high sierra supports. Would this work with your proton drive system? I have installed rclone successfully but when I get to the section where it asks for "Choose a number from below, or type in your own value" I can't get it to work. I can't seem to paste directly the code you suggest: [snip] XX / Proton Drive \ "protondrive" [snip] When I try to type the first line it doesn't work and I can't type multiple lines as every time I press enter it executes? Is this issue because I'm an idiot and don't know how to use terminal properly? If so I'm very sorry and would much appreciate you putting me right. Or is this because this version of rclone won't work with protonmail? Many thanks in advance, Donald #### Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command. rclone v1.63.1 - os/version: darwin 10.13.6 (64 bit) - os/kernel: 17.7.0 (x86\_64) - os/type: darwin - os/arch: amd64 - go/version: go1.20.6 - go/linking: dynamic - go/tags: cmount #### Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive) Proton Drive #### The command you were trying to run (eg `rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp`) ```auto Paste command here ``` [snip] XX / Proton Drive \ "protondrive" [snip] ---
**Author:** ![asdffdsa](https://forum.rclone.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@asdffdsa](https://forum.rclone.org/u/asdffdsa)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/2 "2024-11-30T17:49:12Z")
welcome to the forum, [protondrive](https://rclone.org/protondrive/) was added in `v1.64.0` ![{CDAD88C5-B1DE-4926-A196-DD8EB26476F1}](https://forum.rclone.org/uploads/default/original/3X/1/e/1e82d0d23146b426b155a6ac6cfbf51ad2066ea6.png) to list which providers are supported ```auto rclone config providers ``` ---
**Author:** ![kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/user_avatar/forum.rclone.org/kapitainsky/32/14450_2.png) [@kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/u/kapitainsky)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/3 "2024-12-04T17:49:16Z")
Try to [build](https://rclone.org/install/#source) newer rclone on your system. Include only remotes you need - this way potentially you can bypass golang limitations imposed by some 3rd party modules etc. You have to experiment yourself. Staying on old and unsupported OS requires some creative work to keep thing running. ---
**Author:** ![kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/user_avatar/forum.rclone.org/kapitainsky/32/14450_2.png) [@kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/u/kapitainsky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/4 "2024-12-05T15:13:59Z")
I have had some old VM with macOS Sierra and tried lazy way: `brew install rclone` It takes time as all will be built from source (including `go` as Sierra is not supported by brew any more neither - you will see some scary warnings:) - hence no pre compiled binaries to pour by brew) but does not require any deeper knowledge how to build things. And wow - it works: ```auto $ rclone --version rclone v1.68.2 - os/version: darwin 10.13.6 (64 bit) - os/kernel: 17.7.0 (x86_64) - os/type: darwin - os/arch: amd64 - go/version: go1.23.4 - go/linking: dynamic - go/tags: none ``` It does not support `rclone mount` though (this would require tinkering with manual build). But you can't have it all. Some functionality might be broken too - I am not going to test - I leave it to you:) ---
**Author:** ![Aethondon](https://forum.rclone.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Aethondon](https://forum.rclone.org/u/Aethondon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/5 "2024-12-05T16:20:01Z")
Thank you so much this is hugely helpful, I will get to work and see what I can manage. Thanks again, Donald ---
**Author:** ![kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/user_avatar/forum.rclone.org/kapitainsky/32/14450_2.png) [@kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/u/kapitainsky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/6 "2024-12-05T21:24:27Z")
This is all rather interesting and a bit confusing. As per official golang [docs](https://go.dev/doc/go1.20#darwin): > Go 1.20 is the last release that will run on macOS 10.13 High Sierra or 10.14 Mojave. Go 1.21 will require macOS 10.15 Catalina or later. and indeed binaries for 1.23 officially provided do not work on macOS 10.13 - the same with official rclone built using official `go`, however... when `go` is built from source on such older system all is fine and working.. As I proved earlier building `go` 1.23.4 and latest rclone. So it is either some real limitation (can't find what it is though) which makes them to drop old macOS support or simply nobody is interested in even checking old and obsolete OS versions and they build it with such support explicitly disabled. BTW - you can make `rclone mount` to work as well. It needs macOS FUSE which works even for macOS 10.9 and then compile latest rclone from source (not via brew which disables mount). Of course using `go` built on the same platform only. On the other hand it is impossible for rclone officially keep supporting what go is not. It would be too complex to use and maintain workarounds and given that it is real niche issue it has to remain as it is. Good news is that unofficially users can DYI rclone on these older platforms. Hard to say without trying how far back it can be done. Would macOS 10.12 still work? maybe even older? I think this thread deserves to be moved to "Howto Guides" category. Hopefully it will make some old Apple computers users happy. ---
**Author:** ![kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/user_avatar/forum.rclone.org/kapitainsky/32/14450_2.png) [@kapitainsky](https://forum.rclone.org/u/kapitainsky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/7 "2024-12-05T21:47:20Z")
Summary. To build the latest rclone on older macOS - tested with rclone 1.68.2 and macOS High Sierra (10.13.6) which is not supported even by Apple since 2020: 1. build the latest `go` from source 2. build the latest `rclone` as [usual](https://rclone.org/install/#source) These two steps can be greatly simplified by using `brew`, below command will build both automatically: `brew install rclone` As brew does not provide binaries for High Sierra it instead triggers building both programs from source (with go being rclone dependency). It will take care of everything - downloading sources, configuration and building. Brew version does not support `rclone mount`. If needed: 1. build the latest `go` from source - use lazy way: `brew install go` 2. Install [macFUSE](https://macfuse.github.io/) which works on macOS 10.9 and later. 3. `git clone https://github.com/rclone/rclone.git` If there is no git program then run `brew install git` first 4. `cd rclone` 5. `go build -tags cmount` which will produce `rclone` binary in the current directory Any success (or not) stories comments welcomed - older Apple hardware is still in use and this should bring its users with the latest rclone features and fixes. ---
**Author:** ![Aethondon](https://forum.rclone.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Aethondon](https://forum.rclone.org/u/Aethondon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/8 "2024-12-20T17:29:45Z")
Thank you so much Kapitainsky for looking into this. In the end I got so frustrated that I used open legacy patcher to upgrade my whole OS to ventura which has worked remarkably well. Thank you again for your hard work on rclone and for your support. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://forum.rclone.org/uploads/default/original/2X/3/39ad3235f6ffec76ccd0c81616bd55697b4c300d.png) [@system](https://forum.rclone.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://forum.rclone.org/t/latest-rclone-version-on-older-macos-systems-how-to-build-unnoficial-but-working-rclone/48857/9 "2025-01-19T17:30:41Z")
Closed on January 19, 2025, 5:30pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.