Complete guide to set up the GhidraApple extension development environment.

Install SDKMAN if you don't have it:

curl -s "https://get.sdkman.io" | bash
source "$HOME/.sdkman/bin/sdkman-init.sh"

Install and set Java 21 Temurin:

sdk install java 21.0.5-tem
sdk use java 21.0.5-tem

Verify:

java -version
# Expected: openjdk version "21.x.x" ... Temurin

Gradle needs to know where Ghidra is installed. Add to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

export GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR=/path/to/ghidra_12.0.3_PUBLIC

Reload and confirm:

source ~/.zshrc
echo $GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR
ls $GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR/Ghidra  # should list Ghidra's internal folders

git clone https://github.com/ReverseApple/GhidraApple.git
cd GhidraApple

# Build the extension (generates a .zip in dist/)
./gradlew buildExtension

The output artifact will be at:

dist/ghidra_12.0.3_PUBLIC_<date>_GhidraApple.zip

1. Open Ghidra
2. File > Install Extensions
3. Click + and select the .zip from the dist/ folder
4. Restart Ghidra

# Remove previous version
rm -rf $GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR/Ghidra/Extensions/GhidraApple

# Copy the build output directly, no .zip needed
cp -r build/extension $GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR/Ghidra/Extensions/GhidraApple

The project already includes run configurations under .idea/runConfigurations/ to launch and debug Ghidra directly from IntelliJ.

./gradlew idea

Open the project root in IntelliJ. The Ghidra classpath will be resolved automatically via GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR.

1. File > Project Structure > SDK
2. Add the Java 21 Temurin installed in step 1
3. Confirm the Project SDK is pointing to it

./gradlew test

Some tests require an actual binary to analyze and are skipped by default. To run them, pass the binary path via environment variable:

PATH_TO_BINARY_WITH_BLOCKS=/path/to/your-macho ./gradlew test

Or set it permanently in IntelliJ via Run > Edit Configurations > Environment Variables.

Tests that depend on external binaries use JUnit's assumeTrue — if the required environment variable is not set, the test is skipped (shown as ignored), not failed. This is expected behavior.

GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR not found during build Make sure the variable was exported in the current shell, not just assigned without export.

Analyzers not showing up in Ghidra Check that the GhidraApple folder exists under $GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR/Ghidra/Extensions/ and that Ghidra was restarted after installation.

Java version error Confirm with java -version that you're running Temurin 21. Other distributions (Oracle JDK, GraalVM) may cause incompatibilities.

Build fails with Gradle error Always use the wrapper ./gradlew — never a globally installed Gradle — to ensure version 8.10 is used.