Linux Mint + Xampp + phpize + Cannot find autoconf. Please check your autoconf installation and the $PHP_AUTOCONF environment variable

This yet another phpize error might happen when you run phpize to install an extension to Xampp. If your bash terminal complains about the error: “Cannot find autoconf. Please check your autoconf installation and the $PHP_AUTOCONF environment variable“, then it possibly means that you do not have autoconf installed on your machine.

How To Know If autoconf Is Installed On Your Linux Distro?

– Open your bash terminal
– execute the command: autoconf
– If not installed, you will find a message like:

The program ‘autoconf’ can be found in the following packages:
* autoconf
* autoconf2.13
Try: sudo apt-get install

How To Install autoconf On Your Linux Distro?

It’s as simple as installing it via apt-get: #sudo apt-get install autoconf
After this, follow the next step below..

Configuring The $PHP_AUTOCONF Environment Variable

After installing autoconf, execute the following command in your terminal:
#export PHP_AUTOCONF=/usr/bin/autoconf

DONE!