When attempting to compile jq 1.5 from source on RHEL 6.5, many developers encounter the error regarding Autoconf version requirements. The key error message reveals:

configure.ac:10: error: Autoconf version 2.64 or higher is required
autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 63

First, verify your current Autoconf version:

autoconf --version

If it's below 2.64, you'll need to upgrade the development tools:

sudo yum install -y automake autoconf libtool make gcc

Since RHEL 6.5's repositories contain outdated packages, we'll need to build from source:

wget https://github.com/stedolan/jq/releases/download/jq-1.5/jq-1.5.tar.gz
tar -xzf jq-1.5.tar.gz
cd jq-1.5

Install prerequisite libraries:

sudo yum install -y bison flex oniguruma-devel

For older systems, you might need to compile oniguruma manually:

wget https://github.com/kkos/oniguruma/releases/download/v5.9.6/onig-5.9.6.tar.gz
tar -xzf onig-5.9.6.tar.gz
cd onig-5.9.6
./configure && make && sudo make install

If compiling fails, try the pre-built binary approach:

wget https://github.com/stedolan/jq/releases/download/jq-1.5/jq-linux64 -O jq
chmod +x jq
sudo mv jq /usr/local/bin/

After installation, test jq functionality:

echo '{"test": "value"}' | jq '.test'

Expected output should be:

"value"

---

When attempting to install jq from source on RHEL 6.5, you're hitting a fundamental dependency conflict. The system's default autoconf version (2.63) is too old for jq's requirements (2.64+). Here's why this happens:

$ autoreconf -i
configure.ac:14: warning: macro AM_PROG_AR' not found in library
configure.ac:10: error: Autoconf version 2.64 or higher is required
autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 63

You have three viable approaches:

1. Binary Installation (Recommended)

The simplest method is using pre-built binaries:

wget https://github.com/stedolan/jq/releases/download/jq-1.6/jq-linux64
chmod +x jq-linux64
sudo mv jq-linux64 /usr/local/bin/jq

2. Manual Dependency Upgrade

For source compilation:

# Install updated autoconf
wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.69.tar.gz
tar xzf autoconf-2.69.tar.gz
cd autoconf-2.69
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
sudo make install

# Then install jq
git clone https://github.com/stedolan/jq.git
cd jq
autoreconf -fi
./configure --disable-maintainer-mode
make
sudo make install

3. Docker Alternative

For containerized environments:

docker run -v $(pwd):/data -it stedolan/jq:latest jq '.field' /data/file.json

After installation, test functionality:

$ echo '{"key":"value"}' | jq '.key'
"value"

Common jq operations in RHEL environments:

# Filter AWS instance metadata
curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/ | jq '.'

# Process Kubernetes output
kubectl get pods -o json | jq '.items[].metadata.name'

# Transform CSV to JSON (via Miller then jq)
mlr --c2j cat data.csv | jq '.records[]'