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How to build and install ROS2 on macOS Big Sur M1

This is a detailed list of instructions with workarounds to build a ROS2 distribution (galactic in this case) on the latest Apple's macOS (Big Sur with Apple Silicon M1 processor). Not every tool has been tested on Big Sur+M1 and some tools have been disabled in the build as temp workarounds.
For the current status of the known issues the progress is tracked HERE.
In general this article follows the build instructions of galactic ROS2 release. The process is modified to add Python virtual environment, direnv, and various workarounds to fix the current issues. No System Integrity Protection (SIP) disabling is required, and the only global footprint on the machine is the packages installed through Homebrew.

Directory layout

<root>                              - the root directory for this experiment
  ├── .envrc                        - direnv file to setup env vars, source various files etc
  ├── .venv/                        - local Python virtual environment
  ├── ros2_galactic/                - ROS2 workspace, most of the commands will be run here
  │   ├── {src|build|install|log}   - various directories 
  │
  ├── Pillow/                       - not ROS related packages, to build or experiment out of ROS workspace
  └── numpy/                        - another out of ROS workspace repo

Homebrew

Homebrew is installed into a different location /opt/homebrew on Apple Silicon Mac. But in order to be compatible with Intel based machines, it's best to use $(brew --prefix) expansion to get the location of Homebrew installed packages.

direnv

direnv is a tool to manage separate shell environments per project. cd into a directory executes .envrc file and captures all exported environment variables. cd out of the directory and the shell environment is reverted. This is perfect to automatically source Python virtual env or ROS setup scripts.
brew install direnv and follow the instructions to update your shell dot files (.bashrc or .zshrc).

Python virtual environment

Inside the directory:
# python3 --version
Python 3.9.5
# python3 -m venv .venv
# echo "source .venv/bin/activate \nunset PS1" >> .envrc
direnv: error .../.envrc is blocked. Run `direnv allow` to approve its content
# direnv allow
# which python
<root>/.venv/bin/python
# which pip
<root>/.venv/bin/pip
# pip install --upgrade pip && pip list
...
Package    Version
---------- -------
pip        21.1.2
setuptools 56.0.0
We are now in a prestene Python virtual environment.

Install prerequisites

Follow "Install prerequisites" from https://docs.ros.org/en/galactic/Installation/macOS-Development-Setup.html
Except export OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=$(brew --prefix openssl) could go to the .envrc file. Add export Qt5_DIR=$(brew --prefix qt@5)/lib/cmake to .envrc as well.
There is no need to set export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH at this time because later on we will pass it as an explicit parameter to colcon.
Install Python packages:
pip install -U \
 argcomplete catkin_pkg colcon-common-extensions coverage \
 cryptography empy flake8 flake8-blind-except flake8-builtins \
 flake8-class-newline flake8-comprehensions flake8-deprecated \
 flake8-docstrings flake8-import-order flake8-quotes ifcfg \
 importlib-metadata lark-parser lxml mock mypy netifaces \
 nose pep8 pydocstyle pydot pygraphviz pyparsing \
 pytest-mock rosdep setuptools vcstool psutil rosdistro
Note, matplotlib is missing from this list, requires a few extra steps.
I also installed rosinstall-generator (but this is optional).
pip install rosinstall-generator

Build numpy and Pillow from source

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66204654/unable-to-install-matplotlib-with-python3-on-m1-mac-using-pip3
Note that the location of numpy and Pillow directories must be outside of the ros2_galactic directory. 
cd <root>
pip install Cython
git clone https://github.com/numpy/numpy.git
cd numpy
pip install . --no-binary :all: --no-use-pep517
cd ..
git clone https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow.git
cd Pillow
pip install . --no-binary :all: --no-use-pep517
and finally install matplotlib
# pip install matplotlib
...there will be some errors here but matplotlib installs successfully...
# pip list | grep matplotlib
matplotlib                 3.4.2

SIP

No need to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)

Get the ROS 2 code

No change from https://docs.ros.org/en/galactic/Installation/macOS-Development-Setup.html#get-the-ros-2-code

Build the ROS 2 code

This is where the fun starts. I started with the following colcon build command:
colcon build \
  --symlink-install \
  --merge-install \
  --event-handlers console_cohesion+ console_package_list+ \
  --packages-skip-by-dep python_qt_binding \
  --cmake-args \
    --no-warn-unused-cli \
    -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF \
    -DINSTALL_EXAMPLES=ON \
    -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk \
    -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="arm64" \
    -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$(brew --prefix):$(brew --prefix qt@5)
Let's take it apart. The build is done with colcon tool, which reads package.xml from each repository installed in src, builds a DAG of dependencies, and then executes package builds in the correct topological order. --symlink-install created symlins inside the install directory. --merge-install creates a flatter install directory that results in shorter PATHs when sourcing install/setup.sh later on. --event-handlers console_cohesion+ console_package_list+ gives a slightly better console logging.
All --cmake-args are necessary to properly build the distro on Big Sur + M1.

Patches

On the failure to build osrf_testing_tools_cpp
In file included from .../ros2_galactic/src/osrf/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/src/memory_tools/stack_trace.cpp:17:
In file included from .../ros2_galactic/src/osrf/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/src/memory_tools/./stack_trace_impl.hpp:31:
.../ros2_galactic/src/osrf/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/src/memory_tools/./vendor/bombela/backward-cpp/backward.hpp:3931:60: error: member reference type 'struct __darwin_mcontext64 *' is a pointer; did you mean to use '->'?
    error_addr = reinterpret_cast<void *>(uctx->uc_mcontext.pc);
                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
                                                           ->
patch src/osrf/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/osrf_testing_tools_cpp/src/memory_tools/vendor/bombela/backward-cpp/backward.hpp
--- a/src/memory_tools/vendor/bombela/backward-cpp/backward.hpp
+++ b/src/memory_tools/vendor/bombela/backward-cpp/backward.hpp
@@ -3927,8 +3927,10 @@ public:
     error_addr = reinterpret_cast<void *>(uctx->uc_mcontext.gregs[REG_EIP]);
 #elif defined(__arm__)
     error_addr = reinterpret_cast<void *>(uctx->uc_mcontext.arm_pc);
-#elif defined(__aarch64__)
+#elif defined(__aarch64__) && !defined(__APPLE__)
     error_addr = reinterpret_cast<void *>(uctx->uc_mcontext.pc);
+#elif defined(__APPLE__) && defined(__aarch64__)
+    error_addr = reinterpret_cast<void *>(uctx->uc_mcontext->__ss.__pc);
 #elif defined(__mips__)
     error_addr = reinterpret_cast<void *>(reinterpret_cast<struct sigcontext*>(&uctx->uc_mcontext)->sc_pc);
 #elif defined(__ppc__) || defined(__powerpc) || defined(__powerpc__) ||        \
On the failure to build rviz_ogre_vendor
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
  "_FT_Done_FreeType", referenced from:
      Ogre::Font::loadResource(Ogre::Resource*) in OgreFont.cpp.o
  "_FT_Init_FreeType", referenced from:
      Ogre::Font::loadResource(Ogre::Resource*) in OgreFont.cpp.o
  "_FT_Load_Char", referenced from:
      Ogre::Font::loadResource(Ogre::Resource*) in OgreFont.cpp.o
  "_FT_New_Memory_Face", referenced from:
      Ogre::Font::loadResource(Ogre::Resource*) in OgreFont.cpp.o
  "_FT_Set_Char_Size", referenced from:
      Ogre::Font::loadResource(Ogre::Resource*) in OgreFont.cpp.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make[5]: *** [lib/macosx/libOgreOverlay.1.12.1.dylib] Error 1
make[4]: *** [Components/Overlay/CMakeFiles/OgreOverlay.dir/all] Error 2
make[4]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[3]: *** [all] Error 2
make[2]: *** [ogre-v1.12.1-prefix/src/ogre-v1.12.1-stamp/ogre-v1.12.1-build] Error 2
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/ogre-v1.12.1.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2
patch src/ros2/rviz/rviz_ogre_vendor/CMakeLists.txt
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index faac7e1b..c36877c3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ macro(build_ogre)
     set(OGRE_CXX_FLAGS "${OGRE_CXX_FLAGS} /w /EHsc")
   elseif(APPLE)
     set(OGRE_CXX_FLAGS "${OGRE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++14 -stdlib=libc++ -w")
-    list(APPEND extra_cmake_args "-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES='x86_64'")
+    list(APPEND extra_cmake_args "-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES='arm64'")
   else()  # Linux
     set(OGRE_C_FLAGS "${OGRE_C_FLAGS} -w")
     # include Clang -Wno-everything to disable warnings in that build. GCC doesn't mind it
On another failure to build rviz_ogre_vendor
In file included from /Users/kmamykin/Projects/ros2-build-on-macOS/ros2_galactic/build/rviz_ogre_vendor/ogre-v1.12.1-prefix/src/ogre-v1.12.1/OgreMain/src/OgreOptimisedUtilSSE.cpp:36:
In file included from /Users/kmamykin/Projects/ros2-build-on-macOS/ros2_galactic/build/rviz_ogre_vendor/ogre-v1.12.1-prefix/src/ogre-v1.12.1/OgreMain/src/OgreSIMDHelper.h:69:
In file included from /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/clang/12.0.5/include/xmmintrin.h:13:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/clang/12.0.5/include/mmintrin.h:33:5: error: use of undeclared identifier '__builtin_ia32_emms'; did you mean '__builtin_isless'?
    __builtin_ia32_emms();
    ^
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.3.sdk/usr/include/c++/v1/math.h:649:12: note: '__builtin_isless' declared here
    return isless(__lcpp_x, __lcpp_y);
           ^
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.3.sdk/usr/include/math.h:545:22: note: expanded from macro 'isless'
#define isless(x, y) __builtin_isless((x),(y))
                     ^
update build/rviz_ogre_vendor/ogre-v1.12.1-prefix/src/ogre-v1.12.1/OgreMain/include/OgrePlatformInformation.h (which is downloaded during the build, so you need to try building rviz_ogre_vendor at least once).
--- build/rviz_ogre_vendor/ogre-v1.12.1-prefix/src/ogre-v1.12.1/OgreMain/include/OgrePlatformInformation.h.orig	2021-06-02 16:28:58.000000000 -0400
+++ build/rviz_ogre_vendor/ogre-v1.12.1-prefix/src/ogre-v1.12.1/OgreMain/include/OgrePlatformInformation.h	2021-06-02 16:30:50.000000000 -0400
@@ -50,11 +50,11 @@
 #   define OGRE_CPU OGRE_CPU_X86

 #elif OGRE_PLATFORM == OGRE_PLATFORM_APPLE && defined(__BIG_ENDIAN__)
 #   define OGRE_CPU OGRE_CPU_PPC
 #elif OGRE_PLATFORM == OGRE_PLATFORM_APPLE
-#   define OGRE_CPU OGRE_CPU_X86
+#   define OGRE_CPU OGRE_CPU_ARM
 #elif OGRE_PLATFORM == OGRE_PLATFORM_APPLE_IOS && (defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__))
 #   define OGRE_CPU OGRE_CPU_X86
 #elif defined(__arm__) || defined(_M_ARM) || defined(__arm64__) || defined(__aarch64__)
 #   define OGRE_CPU OGRE_CPU_ARM
 #elif defined(__mips64) || defined(__mips64_)

Testing the install

Once you have a successful build, you can test it, for example by running rviz2:
source ./install/setup.sh
./install/bin/rviz2
Enjoy!