Installing Google Protocol Buffers on mac

Question

I would like to install the older version of Google Protocol Buffers (protobuf-2.4.1) on mac using Terminal command line. I tried with brew install protobuf, but the latest version 2.5.0 has been installed. Is it possible to install the older version from terminal.

Thanks

Why do you want an older version? They are backwards-compatible, as long as you regenerate the `.pb.h` and `.pb.cc` files. — Kenton Varda, Feb 15 '14 at 05:40
I thought I better use the old version as the project was build with 2.4.1. But as you said I have regenerated the the two files and it works fine. Thanks. — informatiker, Feb 17 '14 at 14:14
And in general, here is how to [install a specific version of a formula](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3987683/homebrew-install-specific-version-of-formula). — Duvrai, Feb 24 '14 at 08:40

score 149 · Accepted Answer · answered May 20 '14 at 12:58

149

There are some issues with building protobuf 2.4.1 from source on a Mac. There is a patch that also has to be applied. All this is contained within the homebrew protobuf241 formula, so I would advise using it.

To install protocol buffer version 2.4.1 type the following into a terminal:

brew tap homebrew/versions
brew install protobuf241

If you already have a protocol buffer version that you tried to install from source, you can type the following into a terminal to have the source code overwritten by the homebrew version:

brew link --force --overwrite protobuf241

Check that you now have the correct version installed by typing:

protoc --version

It should display 2.4.1

answered May 20 '14 at 12:58

John Gilmore

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Hey I tried this, howeever on protoc --version i get -bash: protoc: command not found – ramin Jul 03 '15 at 14:53
Version 2.4.1 is installed at "/usr/local/Cellar/protobuf241/2.4.1", you should just create a symlink of "../2.4.1/protoc" and put it in "/usr/local/bin". Try than "protoc --version" and should work exactly how it should. – Gyuri Majercsik Dec 16 '15 at 06:12
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That tap isn't available any more – Mihai Todor Jun 21 '17 at 13:46
try `./protoc --version` – james.garriss Aug 08 '17 at 18:03
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Not working anymore. I get `Warning: homebrew/versions was deprecated. This tap is now empty as all its formulae were migrated.` – Shih-Min Lee Oct 19 '17 at 15:40
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it had migrated to core, use this instead: brew tap homebrew/homebrew-core – Huy Hóm Hỉnh Jun 03 '20 at 08:10

score 81 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 22 '14 at 16:18

81

This is not via brew, but the end result is the same.

Download the protobuf-2.4.1 from https://protobuf.googlecode.com/files/protobuf-2.4.1.tar.gz
Extract the tar.gz file.
$cd ~/Downloads/protobuf-2.4.1
$./configure
$make
$make check
$sudo make install
$which protoc
$protoc --version

Steps 4-7 are from the README.txt file from the protobuf tarball.

answered Apr 22 '14 at 16:18

kksensei

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I tried the brew approach, but for the latest version of protobuf (now 2.6.0) it compiles easily from sources using the exact list of steps above. This becomes even more useful when trying to extend standard proto definitions (e.g., adding field options by extending descriptor.proto) as you need the original sources or otherwise must refer to the Cellar path in the home-brew version of installation (ugly?). – Necro Mar 07 '15 at 00:14
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On running the make command I ended up with errors:3 errors generated. make[2]: *** [message.lo] Error 1 make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1 make: *** [all] Error 2 – Anandaraja_Srinivasan Aug 19 '16 at 09:25
This is the solution which worked for me. But see Xiaoqi Chu's reply when facing with the errors during make. – Amudhan Nov 10 '16 at 12:17
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steps 4-7 are at `/protobuf/src/README.md`, I wish it was in the `README.md` in the `/protobuf` directory – Kevin Zhao Feb 24 '17 at 02:36
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This worked for me the only change is that you need to download sources from https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases – r00tt Feb 27 '17 at 22:15
Be aware that it works for the `protobuf-all-X.zip` release ! – Emixam23 Mar 19 '18 at 01:54

score 34 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 16 '16 at 20:20

It's a new year and there's a new mismatch between the version of protobuf in Homebrew and the cutting edge release. As of February 2016, brew install protobuf will give you version 2.6.1.

If you want the 3.0 beta release instead, you can install it with:

brew install --devel protobuf

Aditya Vikas Devarapalli · Answer 4 · 2020-03-10T14:02:07.937

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If you landed here looking for how to install Protocol Buffers on Mac, it can be done using Homebrew by running the command below

brew install protobuf

It installs the latest version of protobuf available. For me, at the time of writing, this installed the v3.7.1

If you'd like to install an older version, please look up the available ones from the package page Protobuf Package - Homebrew and install that specific version of the package.

The oldest available protobuf version in this package is v3.6.1.3

edited Mar 10 '20 at 14:02

answered May 06 '19 at 14:40

Aditya Vikas Devarapalli

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But the OP specifically asks for installing old version. – Himanshu Tanwar Mar 10 '20 at 08:06

score 13 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 15 '16 at 12:45

For some reason I need to use protobuf 2.4.1 in my project on OS X El Capitan. However homebrew has removed protobuf241 from its formula. I install it according @kksensei's answer manually and have to fix some error during the process.

During the make process, I get 3 error like following:

google/protobuf/message.cc:130:60: error: implicit instantiation of undefined template 'std::__1::basic_istream<char, std::__1::char_traits<char> >'

  return ParseFromZeroCopyStream(&zero_copy_input) && input->eof();

                                                           ^

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/../lib/c++/v1/iosfwd:108:28: note: template is declared here

    class _LIBCPP_TYPE_VIS basic_istream;

                           ^

google/protobuf/message.cc:135:67: error: implicit instantiation of undefined template 'std::__1::basic_istream<char, std::__1::char_traits<char> >'

  return ParsePartialFromZeroCopyStream(&zero_copy_input) && input->eof();

                                                                  ^

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/../lib/c++/v1/iosfwd:108:28: note: template is declared here

    class _LIBCPP_TYPE_VIS basic_istream;

                           ^

google/protobuf/message.cc:175:16: error: implicit instantiation of undefined template 'std::__1::basic_ostream<char, std::__1::char_traits<char> >'

  return output->good();

               ^

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/../lib/c++/v1/iosfwd:110:28: note: template is declared here

    class _LIBCPP_TYPE_VIS basic_ostream;

                           ^

(Sorry, I dont know how to attach code when the code contains '`' )

If you get the same error, please edit src/google/protobuf/message.cc, add #include <istream> at the top of the file and do $ make again and should get no errors. After that do $ sudo make install. When install finished $protoc --version should display the correct result.

This worked for me in macOS Catalina! Saved me hours, thank you! — Sunil L, Sep 24 '20 at 15:49

score 13 · Answer 6 · edited Feb 27 '17 at 03:19

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From https://github.com/paulirish/homebrew-versions-1 . Works for me!

brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulirish/homebrew-versions-1/master/protobuf241.rb

edited Feb 27 '17 at 03:19

Tushar

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answered Feb 27 '17 at 03:15

Xiaofan Hu

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You saved my day. Thanks a lot! – Deepankar Sarkar Oct 26 '18 at 11:47
Note, it's always recommended to scan through the formulae when installing from unknown sources. I did that, it was safe. – Agoston Horvath Mar 08 '19 at 09:41

score 8 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 11 '14 at 23:09

8

I used macports

sudo port install protobuf-cpp

answered Jun 11 '14 at 23:09

Roozbeh Zabihollahi

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score 6 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 11 '16 at 19:08

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brew install --devel protobuf

If it tells you "protobuf-2.6.1 already installed": 1. brew uninstall --devel protobuf 2. brew link libtool 3. brew install --devel protobuf

answered Aug 11 '16 at 19:08

Andrii Kovalchuk

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score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 25 '19 at 15:11

To install Protocol Buffer (as of today version v3.7.0)

Go to this website
download the zip file according to your OS (e.g.: protoc-3.7.0-osx-x86_64.zip). This applies also to other OS.
Move the executable in protoc-3/bin/protoc to one of your directories in PATH. In Mac I suggest to put it into /usr/local/bin

Now your good to go

(optional) There is also an include file, you can add. This is a snippet of the README.md

If you intend to use the included well known types then don't forget to
copy the contents of the 'include' directory somewhere as well, for example
into '/usr/local/include/'.

Please refer to our official github site for more installation instructions:
https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 13 '17 at 18:25

FWIW., the latest version of brew is at protobuf 3.0, and doesn't include any formulae for the older versions. This is somewhat "inconvenient".

While protobuf may be compatible at the wire level, it is absolutely not compatible at the level of generated java classes: you can't use .class files generated with protoc 2.4 with the protobuf-2.5 JAR, etc. etc. This is why updating protobuf versions is such a sensitive topic in the Hadoop stack: it invariably requires coordination across different projects, and is traumatic enough that nobody likes to do it.

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered May 06 '19 at 10:27

There is another official way by Google, as mentioned by another user.

Read it fully before trying.

Here are the steps:

Open Terminal and type the following

PROTOC_ZIP=protoc-3.7.1-osx-x86_64.zip
curl -OL https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.7.1/$PROTOC_ZIP
sudo unzip -o $PROTOC_ZIP -d /usr/local bin/protoc
rm -f $PROTOC_ZIP

Worked for me.

P.S.
This is for version 3.7.1 in osx only. If you want to install some other version/platform, visit the releases link and check out the details of the latest version, and use those information. Reference

Nice and simple. Thanks! :tada: – rodrigo-silveira Aug 06 '20 at 04:45 — rodrigo-silveira, Aug 06 '20 at 04:45

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 03 '19 at 07:04

0

you can install from official link page provided by google http://google.github.io/proto-lens/installing-protoc.html

answered Jan 03 '19 at 07:04

Jabongg

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 31 '19 at 07:17

For v3 users.

http://google.github.io/proto-lens/installing-protoc.html

PROTOC_ZIP=protoc-3.7.1-osx-x86_64.zip
curl -OL https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v3.7.1/$PROTOC_ZIP
sudo unzip -o $PROTOC_ZIP -d /usr/local bin/protoc
sudo unzip -o $PROTOC_ZIP -d /usr/local 'include/*'
rm -f $PROTOC_ZIP

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 28 '20 at 19:54

HomeBrew versions has been removed and formulaes have been emptied. Therefore, my advice is to install it manually following the following steps.

For the time being you will need to build and install the Protocol Buffers toolset manually.

Download source code: https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v2.4.1/protobuf-2.4.1.tar.gz
tar xvfz protobuf-2.4.1.tar.gz
cd protobuf-2.4.1
Run ./configure
Edit src/google/protobuf/message.cc, add #include at the top of the file
Run make command from root of the folder, i.e. protobuf-2.4.1/
Run sudo make install
Run /usr/local/bin/protoc --version to check the version of protobuf compiler version The terminal output should be:

Version: libprotoc 2.4.1

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jan 13 '21 at 06:39

There should be better ways but what I did today was:

Download from https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases (protoc-3.14.0-osx-x86_64.zip at this moment)
Unzip (double click the zip file)
Here, I added a symbolic link

ln -s ~/Downloads/protoc-3.14.0-osx-x86_64/bin/protoc /usr/local/bin/protoc

Check if works

protoc --version

Installing Google Protocol Buffers on mac

15 Answers15

To install Protocol Buffer (as of today version v3.7.0)

Now your good to go

Linked