Troubleshooting

The binary directory doesn't exist

Some operating systems (like Mac OS) may not have a /usr/local/bin directory nor use it as a search PATH for binaries.

To fix this, create the directory (if you're wary of touching /usr, then you may want to use /opt or /opt/bin instead):

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin

Then, add this directory path to the shell's PATH (swap in whichever profile your shell uses, eg. .bash_profile, .bashrc or .zsh):

echo 'export PATH="\$PATH:/usr/local/bin"' >> ~/.bash_profile

Then, source the change for your shell profile:

source ~/.bash_profile

Finally, refer to one of the installation methods: from source or from pre-built assets.

Can't run any command line tools in a terminal

On older versions of Mac OS or after an OS update, you may come across this error:

xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

To solve this error, you'll need to reinstall Command Line Tools for Xcode:

xcode-select --install

or visit this link to download the lastest (preferably non-beta) Command Line Tools for Xcode.

For more debugging information, take a look at this post.

The nvi binary can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer

For Mac OS, you'll get this error if you try to run the nvi binary in a non-system directory. To fix this error, either install the binary to a system directory OR:

• Open the Apple menu, and click System Preferences.
• Click Security & Privacy.
• Click the General tab.
• Click the lock in the lower right corner of the window.
• Enter your username and password when prompted, and click Unlock.
• Look for “(App Name) was blocked from opening because it is not from an identified developer” and click Open Anyway. (In older versions of macOS, you could click Anywhere and then click Allow From Anywhere.)
• Try rerunning the binary.