# package installation problem - Pkg.build("HDF5")

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 27, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864 "2018-10-27T15:16:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rui\_Cortesao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Rui\_Cortesao](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Rui_Cortesao)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/1 "2018-10-27T15:16:01Z")

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Hello everyone,

Yesterday, I have installed Julia on my macOS High Sierra, version 10.13.6 (the latest).  
When I ran the command:

Pkg.build(“HDF5”)

I get the error message:

julia\> Pkg.build(“HDF5”)

Building LibCURL ─→ `~/.julia/packages/LibCURL/OoXMv/deps/build.log`

Building WinRPM ──→ `~/.julia/packages/WinRPM/Y9QdZ/deps/build.log`

Building Homebrew → `~/.julia/packages/Homebrew/l8kUw/deps/build.log`

┌ Error: Error building `Homebrew`:

│ Already up-to-date.

│ Error: gcc@5: Unsupported special dependency :maximum\_macos

│ ERROR: LoadError: ArgumentError: `brew info` failed for [“gcc”]!

│ Stacktrace:

│ [1] json(::Array{String,1}) at /Users/cortesao/.julia/packages/Homebrew/l8kUw/src/API.jl:192

│ [2] info(::Array{String,1}) at /Users/cortesao/.julia/packages/Homebrew/l8kUw/src/API.jl:229

…

How can this problem be solved?

Cheers,  
Rui

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oliver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oliver/32/19264_2.png) [@oliver](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oliver)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/2 "2018-10-27T15:46:23Z")

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What happens when you type `gcc` in Terminal?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rui\_Cortesao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Rui\_Cortesao](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Rui_Cortesao)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/3 "2018-10-27T16:21:38Z")

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If I type just gcc it displays:

clang: error: no input files

If I type gcc --version it displays:

Configured with: --prefix=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1

Apple LLVM version 10.0.0 (clang-1000.11.45.2)

Target: x86\_64-apple-darwin17.7.0

Thread model: posix

InstalledDir: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oliver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oliver/32/19264_2.png) [@oliver](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oliver)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/4 "2018-10-27T16:22:45Z")

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Typing `gcc` would have installed it if not already.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![musm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/musm/32/3675_2.png) [@musm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/musm)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/5 "2018-10-28T02:20:52Z")

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Please first run

Brew install hdf5 before building hdf5

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dpsanders](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dpsanders/32/3573_2.png) [@dpsanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dpsanders)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 3:32am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/6 "2018-10-28T03:32:08Z")

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It feels like Julia should somehow be able to do this automatically.

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**Author:** ![musm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/musm/32/3675_2.png) [@musm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/musm)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-installation-problem-pkg-build-hdf5/16864/7 "2018-10-28T19:11:56Z")

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I agree, but it is not possible with the `Homebrew` package since it maintains its own patched versions of brew packages, which are giving problems with HDF5, due to some incompatibilities; there are issues opened regarding this but there hasn’t been progress on any of them, since most are transitioning to BinaryBuilder solutions, but HDF5 does not support cross-compilation so we cannot use BinaryBuilder yet .