See the SDK Extraction notes above for how to obtain it.
The Gitian descriptors build 2 sets of files: Linux tools, then Apple binaries which are
created using these tools. The build process has been designed to avoid including the
SDK's files in Gitian's outputs. All interim tarballs are fully deterministic and may be freely
redistributed.
`genisoimage` is used to create the initial DMG. It is not deterministic as-is, so it has been
patched. A system `genisoimage` will work fine, but it will not be deterministic because
the file-order will change between invocations. The patch can be seen here: [cdrkit-deterministic.patch](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/depends/patches/native_cdrkit/cdrkit-deterministic.patch).
No effort was made to fix this cleanly, so it likely leaks memory badly, however it's only used for
a single invocation, so that's no real concern.
`genisoimage` cannot compress DMGs, so afterwards, the DMG tool from the
`libdmg-hfsplus` project is used to compress it. There are several bugs in this tool and its
maintainer has seemingly abandoned the project.
The DMG tool has the ability to create DMGs from scratch as well, but this functionality is
broken. Only the compression feature is currently used. Ideally, the creation could be fixed
and `genisoimage` would no longer be necessary.
Background images and other features can be added to DMG files by inserting a
`.DS_Store` before creation. This is generated by the script `contrib/macdeploy/custom_dsstore.py`.
As of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, using an Apple-blessed key to sign binaries is a requirement in
order to satisfy the new Gatekeeper requirements. Because this private key cannot be
shared, we'll have to be a bit creative in order for the build process to remain somewhat
deterministic. Here's how it works:
- Builders use Gitian to create an unsigned release. This outputs an unsigned DMG which
users may choose to bless and run. It also outputs an unsigned app structure in the form
of a tarball, which also contains all of the tools that have been previously (deterministically)
built in order to create a final DMG.
- The Apple keyholder uses this unsigned app to create a detached signature, using the
script that is also included there. Detached signatures are available from this [repository](https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-detached-sigs).
- Builders feed the unsigned app + detached signature back into Gitian. It uses the
pre-built tools to recombine the pieces into a deterministic DMG.