justincalleja
Engineering Elixir Applications: ERROR: build failed
Installing the mentioned version of erlang gave me issues (I also tried with some other versions in 26.2…)
❯ asdf install erlang 26.2.1
ERROR: 'asdf_26.2.1' is not a kerl-managed Erlang/OTP installation.
Build 'asdf_26.2.1' has been deleted.
Extracting source code for normal build...
Building (normal) Erlang/OTP 26.2.1 (asdf_26.2.1); please wait...
Initializing (build) log file at /Users/justincalleja/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_26.2.1/otp_build_26.2.1.log.
Attempting to use Homebrew OpenSSL from /opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3.0...
WARNING: ... you may have to brew the expected version or otherwise use --with-ssl
APPLICATIONS DISABLED (See: /Users/justincalleja/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_26.2.1/otp_build_26.2.1.log)
* odbc : ODBC library - link check failed
DOCUMENTATION INFORMATION (See: /Users/justincalleja/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_26.2.1/otp_build_26.2.1.log)
* documentation :
* fop is missing.
* Using fakefop to generate placeholder PDF files.
ERROR: build failed.
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/netinet/in.h:657:10: fatal error: cannot open file '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/netinet6/in6.h': Too many open files
657 | #include <netinet6/in6.h>
| ^
1 error generated.
make[4]: *** [obj/aarch64-apple-darwin23.6.0/opt/jit/beam_asm_module.o] Error 1
make[4]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[3]: *** [opt] Error 2
make[2]: *** [opt] Error 2
make[1]: *** [jit] Error 2
make: *** [emulator] Error 2
Please see /Users/justincalleja/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_26.2.1/otp_build_26.2.1.log for full details.
Auto cleaning all artifacts except the log file...
(use KERL_AUTOCLEAN=0 to keep build on failure, if desired)
Cleaning up compilation products for 'asdf_26.2.1' under:
- /Users/justincalleja/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds...
- /Users/justincalleja/.asdf/downloads/erlang/26.2.1...
... done.
To overcome this, I had to:
ulimit -n 4096
to increase open file limits… might have helped but I also:
❯ brew install autoconf wxmac openssl@1.1 fop
with some issue with openssl@1.1
Anyway asdf list erlang lists it now and i could install the rest with asdf install and the tools version file.
Most Liked
alvinkatojr
@justincalleja for security reasons, openss1@1.1 is no longer recommended at this point. You can and should install openssl@3 instead via Homebrew i.e brew install openssl3 and add the following to your zshrc or bash file:
export PATH="$(brew --prefix openssl@3)/bin:$PATH"
This ensures that openssl3 is used for all apps/programs that require openssl.
The Homebrew versions will always be picked up by default unless you do something about it, which is why we used ASDF.
I used to have Homebrew versions of Elixir and Erlang when I started out but deleted them after I got used to asdf. They really have serve no purpose unless used as dependencies for something like RabbitMQ which for now you don’t need.
My suggestion would be to uninstall those versions, then install Elixir and Erlang versions using ASDF like you have. Then you can set global and local versions of both using the following examples. The ASDF versions will then be picked up automatically without any hitches.
Use this to set the global version of Elixir and Erlang that will be used automatically when you type iex or erl.
asdf global elixir 1.17.3-otp-27asdf global erlang 27.1.2
Per project basis if you only need to use specific version of elixir for that specific project. Run it in the project directory.
asdf local elixir 1.17.3-otp-27asdf local erlang 27.1.2
Let me know it this helps. Cheers!
justincalleja
Thank you for the reply. I’ve set the ssl3 path override. It did cross my mind to uninstall the homebrew versions. Keeping them around as a backup.
Mostly just posting comments in case someone else has difficulty getting started e.g. the running out of file descriptor issue etc…
Thanks for the feedback
Popular Pragmatic Bookshelf topics
Other popular topics
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Popular Portals
- /elixir
- /rust
- /ruby
- /wasm
- /erlang
- /phoenix
- /keyboards
- /python
- /js
- /rails
- /security
- /go
- /swift
- /vim
- /clojure
- /emacs
- /haskell
- /java
- /svelte
- /onivim
- /typescript
- /kotlin
- /c-plus-plus
- /crystal
- /tailwind
- /react
- /gleam
- /ocaml
- /elm
- /flutter
- /vscode
- /ash
- /html
- /opensuse
- /centos
- /php
- /deepseek
- /zig
- /scala
- /sublime-text
- /lisp
- /textmate
- /react-native
- /debian
- /nixos
- /agda
- /kubuntu
- /django
- /arch-linux
- /deno
- /revery
- /ubuntu
- /nodejs
- /manjaro
- /spring
- /diversity
- /lua
- /julia
- /markdown
- /c
Devtalk Sponsors
Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.
We build trusted fault-tolerant systems that scale to billions of users.
Real-time error tracking, performance insights, and observability for devs.
Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.
We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.
Develop your skills with books, videos, and courses.
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Enabling companies to succeed by building software people love.
Courses that move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"