Install autoreconf on OS X v10.7 (Lion)?

Question

I'm attempting to re-install Ruby 1.9.3 with a patch that will allow me to use ruby-debug.

When following the instructions and running

rvm reinstall 1.9.3 --patch debug --force-autoconf

It runs through and after applying the patch spits out:

rvm requires autoreconf to install the selected ruby interpreter however autoreconf was not found in the PATH.

Unfortunately, googling around for how to install autoreconf on OS X v10.7 (Lion) (or much information about it at all) seems to be a dead end.

Answer 1

If you are using Homebrew, try

brew install automake

Which should also install autoconf and allow rvm to finish installing.

Answer 2

If you want to do this using MacPorts instead of Homebrew, you can do:

sudo port install automake autoconf libtool

I had the same problem and this solved it for me.

Answer 3

If you're using brew, then the autoreconf utility is part of the autoconf package, so install it via:

brew install autoconf

If the problem persists, consider either reinstall or link it again. Use locate autoreconf to find out where it is.

Also check if /usr/local/bin/autoreconf exists (and is linked into the right place), and you've the /usr/local/bin path added in your /etc/paths file.

Answer 4

By downloading the .pkg file from MacPorts and installing it, it does the trick for me.

Answer 5

I solved my autoreconf problem adding the path to my shell:

sudo pico /etc/paths

then I added the line

/sw/bin

where I found the autoreconf and autoconf files and saved everything.

Since then I can use autoreconf without any problems.

Answer 6

I had a similar problem, but because Homebrew moved away from the Cellar directory, but for some reasons binaries of this package were still there.

I reinstalled autoconf with the following command and autoreconf is in the right PATH now: brew reinstall autoconf