Debian or Ubuntu setup

The following command install all the required tools and libraries to build and install the Apache Thrift compiler on a Debian/Ubuntu Linux based system.

sudo apt-get install libboost-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-program-options-dev libevent-dev automake libtool flex bison pkg-config g++ libssl-dev 

Then install the Java JDK of your choice. Type javac to see a list of available packages, pick the one you prefer and apt-get install it.

Debian Lenny Users need some packages from backports

sudo apt-get -t lenny-backports install automake libboost-test-dev

Optional packages

Some other packages depend on what languages you want Thrift to support.

Additional reading

For more information on the requirements see: Apache Thrift Requirements

For more information on building and installing Thrift see: Building from source