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Master Code QC 4 Beta installation for MAC intel processor using Python 3.12.10 #1484
Description
MacOS installation instruction paragraph 1 said t use Python 3.13 or newer.
I am using a MAC intel processor, Sequoia OS.
I tried with python 3.13 and it did not work.
I then used python 3.12.10
I used Co-pilot to coach me through as I was missing many files. I would copy the error and got suggestions on how to fix them. There are some errors but these errors do not prevent me from launching QC 4 beta. So if there are problems installing, I would suggest using CoPilot or Claude or other AI powered search engine.
My issues included (1) installing the developer tool (this is a loaner so it has not been done) (2) I had conflicting Python 3.12 and 3.13; (3). I was missing these and installed them: , Rust, torch, cryptography, OpenSSL, homebrew, pkg-config.
I created the environment using this script: python3.12 -m venv env312
activated it with source env312/bin/activate.
Activity
ccbogel commentedon Aug 14, 2026
Did pythn 3.12 work fine for QC. If so, I can downgrade the requirement to use 3.13 minimum version
vansorat commentedon Aug 15, 2026
Not fine- there was an error. When installing QC 3.8.2 source code for MAC with intel processor, after pip3 install -r requirements.txt, there will be an error and this additional script must be run: pip install "numpy<2" .
Originally when I was trying to install QC 4 on a different intel MAC Ventura OS (with Python 3.12) that had successfully installed QC 3.8.2 from source code, I got an error message that there was a conflict with torch.
A colleague with MAC Silicon processor who had installed 3.8.2 .dmg package tried installing QC4 but also had a conflict with torch.
qwertygc commentedon Aug 15, 2026
We’ll be releasing a compiled version soon. Perhaps it’ll be worth waiting a little while, and that might sort out the problem?
vansorat commentedon Aug 15, 2026
A compiler was not possible for 3.8.2 for MAC intel processor. So for QC4, there will be a compiler for MAC intel processor?
kaixxx commentedon Aug 15, 2026
It is difficult to continue supporting the old Intel based Macs since many Python packages are no longer compatible with it. I cannot promise that we will be able to create a binary for it. However, there might be ways to make it work with homebrew, etc., as you have found out. Thanks for reporting, this might help other users with similar problems.
bfisseler commentedon Oct 7, 2026
Homebrew has announced that they will not support Intel Macs after September 2027. They are recommending MacPorts.
I could successfully install QualCoder on my Intel Mac today using Python 3.10.13 but I had to update Rust:
rustup update stableBefore the update the installation failed on cryptography (and several additional packages). After updating Rust the
pip3 install -r requirements.txtworked and I could start QualCoder.ccbogel commentedon Oct 7, 2026
@bfisseler OK well that is interesting information.
But for us as developers we cannot put the time and effort into making QualCoder work on older platforms.
p.s. I see you have published a lot. Are you finding QualCoder useful for your work?
kaixxx commentedon Oct 8, 2026
@bfisseler Thank you. I' have now referenced this discussion on the 4.0 release page so people can find information on how to get QualCoder running on Intel Macs.
oliveropazo-lab commentedon Nov 9, 2026
Thanks for documenting this. In case it helps other Intel Mac users, I got QualCoder running from source (both the 4.0 tag and master as of November 2026) on an Intel MacBook Air (macOS 14.8.4) with Python 3.12.10, without Rust or Homebrew:
numpy<2is needed, as noted above. With NumPy 2, torch 2.2.2 reports "Numpy is not available" and AI embeddings fail, even though the app still starts.pymupdf==1.28.2is the last release with an Intel wheel.pip install --prefer-binaryavoids the Rust build ofcryptography.I put this in a small installer script, with the full list of pins: https://github.com/oliveropazo-lab/qualcoder-intel-mac
It downloads QualCoder from this repository and is unofficial, so please don't treat it as supported by the QualCoder team. It has only been tested on my machine.
kaixxx commentedon Nov 9, 2026
Thanks, @oliveropazo-lab, for the detailed information. Maybe I'll try an "official" Mac x86 build on the next release. I don't have an x86 machine to test it on, but it might be worthwhile.