How to install bison on mac OSX

Question

I'm trying to install Thrift on my macbook. Otherwise I got an error:

configure: error: Bison version 2.5 or higher must be installed on the system!

So tried to install Bison on my OS, but I didn't find tutorial on internet. Does anyone who can tell me how to install Bison on my system ?

Kind Regards

Physiologist

Answer 1

See here. You can install with brew:

brew install bison

Then update your scripts or your shell config to use brew's bison first in
your PATH:

export PATH="$(brew --prefix bison)/bin:$PATH"

Or

export PATH="/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:$PATH"

Brahmanism

When would it be necessary to unlink bison? I am sure to forget. – Shifra

Why do we need to link and unlink? When should we unlink it again after linking? – Uniformitarian

Brew no longer allows force linking system provided packages. Use export PATH="$(brew --prefix bison)/bin:$PATH" when brew's bison is needed in your scripts. – Methyl

I updated this answer to reflect that my previous comment. – Methyl

sometimes you might need bsion2.7, so brew install [email protected] then export PATH="$(brew --prefix [email protected])/bin:$PATH" to your config – Thomajan

Answer 2

I needed to set export PATH="/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:$PATH" brew install bison installs the bison new version at /usr/local/Cellar but this path is not set in the $PATH

Zelma

Thanks for this suggestion. I have the same issue on macOS 10.15.2 – Pelican

Answer 3

To save a ton of time use either Macports or Homebrew. These will install all dependent packages for you.

I use Macports, and after installing it, it's as simple as:

$ sudo port install thrift

and it will be done before your coffee is ready.

Tabulator

I wrote "sudo port install thrift" on my terminal, but there was an error "Error: Port thrift not found Can we find a solution ?" Kind Regards. – Physiologist

@bonzaitek Strange as that port is available. Did you follow all the Macports installation steps (i.e. sudo port selfupdate)? – Tabulator

Oops... No I didn't, the only handling I did is install from source like " $ curl -O distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-2.3.3.tar.bz2 $ tar xf MacPorts-2.3.3.tar.bz2 $ cd MacPorts-2.3.3/ " In your opinion, this link tutorial is it correct for the rest of the installation ? guide.macports.org/chunked/installing.shell.html Kind Regards – Physiologist

You only need to install like that if you're running El Capitan as it's not officially supported. If you are running non-beta OSX, then there is binary installer available. – Tabulator

@NeeleshSalian Yeah I mentioned Homebrew in my answer. – Tabulator

Answer 4

I got a warning after brew install bison and when trying brew link bison --force

bison is keg-only, which means it was not symlinked into /usr/local,
because some formulae require a newer version of bison.

If you need to have bison first in your PATH run:
  echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

For compilers to find bison you may need to set:
  export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/opt/bison/lib"

So I suggest you to add these two above flags, instead of forcing the link of /usr/local.

So, above all, you will need below three steps:

brew install bison
echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile
export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/opt/bison/lib"

Auroora

Don't forget to do "source ~/.bash_profile" for this to work as expected. – Censure

Answer 5

rename the default bison under dir: '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin$'

install the newest version of bison by homebrew:

brew install bison

link the bison :

brew link bison --force 

if you need unlink the bison and rename the bison from xcode. best wish ~~

Effrontery

Brew no longer allows force linking system provided packages. Default bison shouldn't be renamed. Use export PATH="$(brew --prefix bison)/bin:$PATH" when brew's bison is needed in your scripts. – Methyl