
Go ahead and open a new Terminal window, then enter the following command to navigate to the Desktop. If you are unsure, just copy the commands directly and use the Desktop too. I have chosen to simply use the Desktop, but you can choose somewhere different, just make sure you amend the necessary file paths. The easiest way to do this is by using the git command in the Terminal.įirst we need to decide on a temporary location where we will keep the downloaded files and build the source. Next we need to download the Aseprite Source Code. Step 2: Download the Aseprite Source Code Simply head over to the App store, search for Xcode and install it. The only caveat is that the file size is huge, something over 10GB, so make sure you have a capable internet connection before you begin. But don’t worry, it’s very simple to install them! In order to build anything on Mac you generally need the Xcode developer tools installed. I will be walking through the process using an M1 Mac, but the process is also compatible with Intel, although at the time of writing I have not tested it with an Intel machine. In this article we will walk through the compilation step by step on MacOS in order to build a totally FREE and legal copy of Aseprite that you can use by using the totally free source code that is available.

This means developers can build the source for free without difficulty, whilst us mere mortals are left to pay for the binaries!

The instructions for compilation can be somewhat vague, although to a seasoned developer this should be no problem to follow. What this means is that unless you are prepared to go through the complex process of compiling the source code, you need to pay for the software. However where things differ is that the working binaries must be paid for.

The source code is effectively open source and freely available to download and the project can be found on GitHub. There are several licenses that apply as the software makes use of different third party dependencies. I have already written a similar article for Fritzing, which has the same model. Aseprite has a slightly unorthodox licensing model that is a uncommon but not unique.
