Error when trying to “brew link autoconf”

Question

When I try to \"brew link autoconf\" in the terminal I keep getting this error.

Error: Could not symlink file: /usr/local/Cellar/autoconf/2.69/share/emacs/site-lisp /usr

Answer 1

You just need to change brew owned by root.

then you can use below command.

sudo brew link xxxx

Quote from github, this is not a bug, it is designed:

jacknagel commented on 4 Feb 2012

brew install will not work with root privileges unless brew itself is owned by root. @jacknagel Collaborator jacknagel commented on 4 Feb 2012

(this is by design.)