This is a fork of Astrolog 8.00 by Walter D. Pullen, adapted to build and run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, with graphics through XQuartz (X11).
Open the Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal), paste this line and press Return:
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Juancx3/AstrologMacOS/Macos-AppleSilicon-x11/macos/install.sh)It installs the ready-made Astrolog.app, with nothing to compile. The
installer checks for XQuartz (which shows the chart window) and helps you
install it, asks for your default city, and sets everything up. Open Astrolog
from Spotlight or the Dock. Run the same command again to update; it never
overwrites your settings or your charts.
If the installer had to install XQuartz, restart the Mac before opening Astrolog.
Want to read or change the code? Add --from-source at the end of the
command to build Astrolog yourself; this needs Apple's Command Line Tools.
See Building from the source code.
→ Keyboard reference, useful commands and troubleshooting: README-macOS.md.
Compared with the official Unix/X11 version of Astrolog 8.00:
- Function key macros. F1–F12, alone or with Shift, Ctrl or Option, run macros 1–96, using the same key assignments as the Windows version.
- Keyboard shortcuts with the Command key for common chart types: transits, progressions, aspect list and aspect grid.
- In-window command line. Pressing Enter opens a command box inside the chart window, with command history, instead of prompting in the terminal.
- Daylight Saving Time fix. With
-z0 Autodetect, charts for the current moment were cast one hour off on Unix and macOS whenever the location was on Standard Time. This fork corrects that. - More robust macros. Macros that load a chart with
-inow keep the loaded chart, macros that change colors now take effect, and an error inside a macro no longer closes the program. - Long folder paths fixed. Outside Windows, a long folder path could crash the program at startup, or make it lose its ephemeris files, which placed Chiron, Eris and other asteroids at 0° Aries.
- A one-command installer for a ready-made app, built and tested by GitHub Actions for each release, or for building from source.
All changes to the program are in four source files:
| File | Change |
|---|---|
xscreen.cpp |
Keyboard additions, command box and macro fixes. All code is inside #ifdef X11, so the Windows version is not affected. |
general.cpp |
Daylight Saving Time autodetect fix, in the Unix code path only. |
astrolog.h |
Bounded snprintf for sprintf2 on macOS and Unix, as on Windows. |
calc.cpp |
The Swiss Ephemeris search path keeps within its length limit. |
The Mac-specific files are in the macos folder:
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
install.sh |
The installer and updater, for the ready-made app or a build from source |
setup.sh |
Per-user setup (settings folder, city, XQuartz options), used by the installer and the app |
Makefile |
Builds Astrolog with XQuartz |
make-app.sh, launcher.c, astrolog.command, Astrolog.icns |
Create Astrolog.app and run Astrolog from it |
astrolog-default.as |
Settings template for the Mac |
The ready-made app is built by .github/workflows/release.yml each time a
release is published.
Astrolog is a free, open-source astrology program written by Walter D. Pullen, available since 1991. The official home page, documentation and downloads are at https://www.astrolog.org/astrolog.htm.
This fork is based on the official copy of Astrolog 8.00 (released May 31, 2026) at https://github.com/CruiserOne/Astrolog, which in turn was copied from http://www.astrolog.org/ftp/ast80src.zip. The changes in version 8.00 are described at http://www.astrolog.org/ftp/updat800.htm.
Astrolog is Copyright (C) 1991-2026 by Walter D. Pullen and is distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later. The text of the license is in LICENSE; license.htm also lists the credits of the components Astrolog includes, such as the Swiss Ephemeris.
I’m a geeky engineer working in cybersecurity, but I also have a hobby: astrology. (Yes, I know, I’m a bit eccentric!)
I’ve always been interested in astrology, but the available software was either prohibitively expensive or absurdly cumbersome to use.
Since I couldn’t afford to buy an astrology program, I stumbled upon Astrolog by chance. Even though I’ve since been able to purchase other professional software, Astrolog remains my favorite.
The thing is, I’ve been using Astrolog for about 26 years (!!!), always on Windows. I now use a Mac, and for the last four years I’ve been running Astrolog on macOS via Wine. However, Apple has decided to phase out the translation layer (Rosetta) that allows Intel-based programs to run on macOS. Apple has announced that, starting with macOS 28, Intel-based software will no longer be supported.
This forced me to look for alternatives. I checked out other programs for macOS, but none of them suited me or offered the same ease of use. So I decided to create a fork of Astrolog.
I’m building this primarily for myself, but I felt it was appropriate to share it with Walter (whom I greatly admire for his fantastic work). As of now, the complete Astrolog engine runs natively on macOS; what I’ve added are keyboard shortcuts for the features I use most (transits, progressions and macros), an in-window command line, and an installer that makes it easy to set up. If the community feels that other macOS-compatible shortcuts should be added to this version (and provided Walter gives his approval), I’d be happy to look into it.
The macOS changes in this fork were made in October 2026 by Juancx3 and are distributed under the same license. They are unofficial and not endorsed by the original author; please report problems with this fork here, not to the author of Astrolog.