Homebrew tap for QEMU - A generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer, built for macOS with virglrenderer, ANGLE, and KosmicKrisp support for GPU acceleration.

QEMU is a free and open-source emulator and virtualizer that can perform hardware virtualization. When combined with virglrenderer and KosmicKrisp, it provides accelerated 3D graphics and Vulkan support for guest operating systems.

# Tap the repository
brew tap startergo/qemu-virgl-kosmickrisp

# Install qemu (downloads pre-built bottle)
brew install startergo/qemu-virgl-kosmickrisp/qemu

Build from source if you need to modify the formula, apply custom patches, or the bottle is unavailable for your macOS version:

# Tap the repository
brew tap startergo/qemu-virgl-kosmickrisp

# Install and build from source
brew install --build-from-source startergo/qemu-virgl-kosmickrisp/qemu

# Or use the shorthand
brew install -s startergo/qemu-virgl-kosmickrisp/qemu

Build from source notes:

• Build time: ~30-60 minutes on Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 (depending on CPU cores)
• Disk space required: ~4GB for build artifacts
• Requires Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install
• The formula will download and build:
  • QEMU from upstream GitLab master
  • Vulkan SDK with KosmicKrisp component
  • Apply all patches automatically

Troubleshooting build failures:

If the build fails, you can inspect the build logs:

# Show build logs
brew config
brew install --verbose --build-from-source startergo/qemu-virgl-kosmickrisp/qemu

# Or access logs after failed build
cat ~/Library/Logs/Homebrew/qemu/*.log

This tap requires the following taps:

• startergo/virglrenderer - Virtual 3D GPU renderer
• startergo/libepoxy - OpenGL function pointer management
• startergo/angle - OpenGL ES implementation for macOS

The -display cocoa backend supports OpenGL rendering modes via the gl= option:

• gl=on - Enable OpenGL rendering with compatibility profile
• gl=off - Disable OpenGL rendering (default)
• gl=core - Use OpenGL Core profile (recommended for modern OpenGL)
• gl=es - Use OpenGL ES via ANGLE (for ES 2.0/3.0 support)

qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -display cocoa,gl=core \
  -device virtio-gpu-pci \
  ...

Venus is a modern virtio-gpu Vulkan transport available in QEMU v9.2.0 and later. The Vulkan runtime (loader, driver, ICD) is installed with QEMU at:

$(brew --prefix qemu)/lib/libvulkan.dylib
$(brew --prefix qemu)/lib/libvulkan_kosmickrisp.dylib
$(brew --prefix qemu)/share/vulkan/icd.d/libkosmickrisp_icd.json

Requirements:

• macOS 15+ (Sequoia) on Apple Silicon for full Vulkan 1.3 conformance
• LunarG Vulkan SDK 1.4.335.1 (KosmicKrisp bundled with QEMU)

export VK_DRIVER_FILES=$(brew --prefix qemu)/share/vulkan/icd.d/libkosmickrisp_icd.json
export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=$(brew --prefix qemu)/share/vulkan/icd.d/libkosmickrisp_icd.json

qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -accel hvf \
  -display cocoa,gl=core \
  -device virtio-gpu-pci,vulkan=on,hostmem=4G \
  ...

Guest OS requirements: Linux guest with Mesa 25.1+ for Venus support. Verify inside guest:

vulkaninfo | grep "device name"

Should report virtio-gpu device powered by host's KosmicKrisp.

Note: The KosmicKrisp driver (ICD file + dylib) is bundled with QEMU. No separate Vulkan SDK installation is required.

• QEMU system binaries: qemu-system-x86_64, qemu-system-aarch64, qemu-system-i386
• QEMU tools: qemu-img, qemu-nbd, qemu-keymap, etc.
• virtio-gpu-gl support: Enabled with virglrenderer integration
• OpenGL ES support: Via ANGLE through virglrenderer
• Venus support: Modern virtio-gpu Vulkan transport via LunarG Vulkan SDK (includes KosmicKrisp, a Vulkan-to-Metal layered driver for Apple Silicon)
• UI backends: Cocoa, SDL (GTK disabled to avoid dependency conflicts)

This build is configured for macOS with GPU acceleration support:

• virglrenderer support: Uses startergo/virglrenderer for GPU acceleration
• OpenGL ES support via ANGLE: Through virglrenderer dependency
• OpenGL support via libepoxy: Through virglrenderer dependency
• Venus support: Modern virtio-gpu Vulkan transport via LunarG Vulkan SDK (includes KosmicKrisp, a Vulkan-to-Metal layered driver for Apple Silicon)
• Target architectures: x86_64, aarch64, arm, and more
• Builds against upstream QEMU master

This tap applies the following patches to upstream QEMU:

• qemu-virgl3d-macos.patch: @akihikodaki's VirGL 3D macOS support with ANGLE Metal backend (upstream PR)
• qemu-audio-coreaudio.patch: Audio/coreaudio improvements for macOS

These patches enable:

• -display cocoa,gl=core - OpenGL Core profile via OpenGL.framework
• -display cocoa,gl=es - OpenGL ES via ANGLE with Metal backend

GPL-2.0-or-later

• QEMU: Generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer
• virglrenderer: Virtual 3D GPU renderer (via startergo/homebrew-virglrenderer)
• ANGLE: OpenGL ES implementation for macOS (via startergo/homebrew-angle)
• libepoxy: OpenGL function pointer management (via startergo/homebrew-libepoxy)
• LunarG Vulkan SDK: Vulkan SDK for macOS (includes KosmicKrisp, a Vulkan-to-Metal layered driver for Apple Silicon, currently in alpha)

This tap builds against the latest upstream QEMU with macOS-specific optimizations for graphics acceleration.