Homebrew

Install Homebrew

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

Paste that in a macOS Terminal or Linux shell prompt.

The script explains what it will do and then pauses before it does it. Read about other installation options.

If you're on macOS, try our new .pkg installer.

What Does Homebrew Do?

Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple (or your Linux system) didn’t.

$ brew install wget

Homebrew installs packages to their own directory and then symlinks their files into /opt/homebrew (on Apple Silicon).

$ cd /opt/homebrew
$ find Cellar
Cellar/wget/1.16.1
Cellar/wget/1.16.1/bin/wget
Cellar/wget/1.16.1/share/man/man1/wget.1

$ ls -l bin
bin/wget -> ../Cellar/wget/1.16.1/bin/wget

Homebrew won’t install files outside its prefix and you can place a Homebrew installation wherever you like.

Trivially create your own Homebrew packages.

$ brew create https://foo.com/foo-1.0.tgz
Created /opt/homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/foo.rb

It’s all Git and Ruby underneath, so hack away with the knowledge that you can easily revert your modifications and merge upstream updates.

$ brew edit wget # opens in $EDITOR!

Homebrew formulae are simple Ruby scripts:

class Wget < Formula
  homepage "https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/"
  url "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/wget/wget-1.15.tar.gz"
  sha256 "52126be8cf1bddd7536886e74c053ad7d0ed2aa89b4b630f76785bac21695fcd"

  def install
    system "./configure", "--prefix=#{prefix}"
    system "make", "install"
  end
end

Homebrew complements macOS (or your Linux system). Install your RubyGems with gem and their dependencies with brew.

“To install, drag this icon…” no more. Homebrew Cask installs macOS apps, fonts and plugins and other non-open source software.

$ brew install --cask firefox

Making a cask is as simple as creating a formula.

$ brew create --cask https://foo.com/foo-1.0.dmg
Editing /opt/homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-cask/Casks/foo.rb