Written by
Amanda WongAfter you have installed Homebrew on your Mac, you can install other open-source programs you prefer with Homebrew on your device. However, while you use Homebrew to install a particular package onto the M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs, you may encounter the error message "The arm64 architecture is required for this software."
Why does the error 'the arm64 architecture is required for this software' occur?
The processors of Apple Silicon Macs are based on ARM architecture, different from x86 on previous Intel-based Macs. Therefore, it could be an incompatibility between the Homebrew and the M1/M2/M3/M4 Mac device.
Perhaps you may have set the x86 version as the default while you were installing Homebrew in the past or installed the x86 version of Homebrew instead of the arm64 version. Thus, it triggers the "arm64 architecture is required for this software" error message when you try to install a package designed for an ARM Mac.
How to fix 'the arm64 architecture is required for this software' on Apple Silicon Mac?
Thankfully, this can be easily fixed with a few command line edits. If you encounter the message "The arm64 architecture is required for this software" when using Homebrew, follow these steps and it will be fixed quickly.
- Open Terminal from the Applications folder.
- Enter the following command to switch to the arm64 APPle Silicon versions of Homebrew:eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
- Then use the arm64 version of Homebrew to install the package in question before, enter the command below, you need replace the app name with the correct one:arch -arm64 brew install appname
It does not always need to use the arch command as a prefix, but in this instance, we are using it to ensure that Rosetta 2 executes the instruction in ARM64 mode instead of x86 mode.
Without having to uninstall and reinstall Homebrew for ARM64, you can usually use the aforementioned command to switch Homebrew to run the arm64 version in your PATH at /opt/homebrew/bin/brew. Simply use the following commands to swap between the two if necessary for whatever reason:
Switch to the arm64 version of Homebrew:
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
Switch to the x86 version of Homebrew:
eval "$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"
Help others to easily fix the "arm64 architecture is required for this software" with the steps above!
