6.11.2017

Homebrew for Mac

If you have a Mac computer then you need Homebrew.  I can't state this enough.  At this point it's one of those things I install right after I get my iCloud identity logged in.  It's that critical.

What it is is a package manager which is a fancy way of saying application installer.

You run it via a simple command line:
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

It will basically run some scripts to you get you going.  There are plenty of resources on the net about things you'll need to do like getting Xcode Command Line Utilities installed - which you'll need for some of the packages you'll want to build.

You can then extend the functionality by installing Cask as well via the command:
brew tap caskroom/cask

So instead of going to a webpage and downloading an installer and having to drag an icon to your Applications folder, you can simply type something like...
brew cask install google-chrome

And that's it.

Periodically you'll want to check your stuff.  There are two handy commands for this.
brew update to update packages and brew doctor to make sure things are hunky dory.  And then occasionally you'll want to run brew cleanup to delete any out of date files.

So if I find a utility or application that I want to use I try to install it via homebrew and if it's not in the main repository I can then check to see if it's in the cask.  FWIW, if it's a graphical application it's usually in Cask and not in the Main Homebrew repo so things like GiMP or MakeMKV are in Cask.

I've played around with Macports and Fink but find Homebrew way easier to use.  As always, YMMV.


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