M1 Mac: Combating “x86_64 architecture is required for this software.”(A Python 3.7 Example)

Recently I was tasked with downloading an older version of python on my new Mac Mini, which has the M1 Chip. I’ll walk you through how I overcame this obstacle.

For example, I needed to download python 3.7 but came across this error message:

Matthews-Mini:~ matthew$ brew install python@3.7
python@3.7: The x86_64 architecture is required for this software.
Error: python@3.7: An unsatisfied requirement failed this build.

Download Rosetta 2

In the terminal:

softwareupdate --install-rosetta

Now, a command in the terminal that begins with arch -x86_64 will let you access an x86 architecture.

Download Homebrew Using arch -x86_64

In the terminal:

arch -x86_64 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Write an alias to your rc file (mine is .bash_profile, yours might be different)

echo 'alias ibrew="arch -x86_64 /usr/local/bin/brew"' >> ~/.bash_profile

This allows you to access the x86_64 version of brew you just installed by using the command ibrew.

Close and reopen your terminal window to access this change

Download Python 3.7