macOS installation - last step needs clarification about rbenv HOT 4 OPEN

There is probably some room for clarification here. The instructions in step 3 "reload terminal for changes to take effect" is necessary after any changes are made to ones zshrc. (The addition of rbenv-init to the zshrc is in fact "the changes" being referred to that require a reload.) Any modifications to zshrc/profile only take effect when those files are sourced, which only happens when the shell is first launched.

So the instructions to add rbenv-init to your zshrc and the instructions to reload the terminal are not conflicting or redundant. Rather, the latter follows from the former.

I can see the confusion, however. The phrasing "Load rbenv automatically" could seem to imply the reload not being necessary.

from rbenv.

I think it's also likely you might be running into some conflicting messaging. Just a few weeks ago, rbenv-init was modified to make the necessary changes to bashrc/zshrc/etc itself rather than printing the instructions for users to perform manually.

This new behavior is not released yet; and so the homebrew installation does not yet take advantage of it. What's more, rbenv's README instructions reflect the latest code _on rbenv's main branch. So if you view https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv#installation, you'll be seeing the installation steps that presume the still-unreleased behavior. 😬

I apologize for the confusion caused. I suspect most of this confusion should be sorted out once the next release is cut. Then the readme will be applicable and homebrew's installation will be able to take advantage of the streamlined install behavior.

from rbenv.