exec format error on macOS

I've experienced this error since a few months but was afraid to ask because of the backlash I got (deservedly) last time I had a problem compiling MAME and just hoped the error would eventually go away an update.

Here's what I'm doing: after downloading and unzipping the source (I do not touch the source tree in any way), I proceed to compilation (normally I'm using make -j8 TOOLS=1). Everything wents fine (besides a lot of warnings during compilation) and after a while I'm presented with an executable.

If I launch said executable, I'm getting the following error:

Code

>zsh: exec format error: /Applications/Emulation/MAME/MAME
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.
Deleting expired sessions...none found.

This only happens on my iMac Pro, on my M1 Mac mini the produced executable works just fine. I'm using the latest Xcode version 12.5.1.

That error means the shell doesn't recognize the file you're trying to launch. What does "file /whatever/mame" say?

I tried it again with 0.235: output of file command is "data".

OK, found the cause: if I compile on an external drive, the resulting file is not executable. Compiling on the internal drive results in a perfectly fine running MAME.

Is this something that is expected on macOS (11.5.2)?

I haven't specifically heard of that, but I also wouldn't be surprised if that's a newer macOS security thing. Glad you found the cause at least