Install Homebrew
Homebrew is a free and open-source software package management system that simplifies the installation of software on Apple's operating system, macOS, as well as Linux. The name is intended to suggest the idea of building software on the Mac depending on the user's taste. Originally written by Max Howell, the package manager has gained popularity in the Ruby on Rails community and earned praise for its extensibility.
Paste the code below in a macOS Terminal or Linux shell prompt to install Homebrew on your device:
$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
The script explains what it will do and then pauses before it does it. Read about other installation options. If you're on macOS, download and try the new .pkg installer from Homebrew's latest GitHub release.
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
desc "Internet file retriever"
homepage "https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/"
url "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/wget/wget-1.24.5.tar.gz"
sha256 "fa2dc35bab5184ecbc46a9ef83def2aaaa3f4c9f3c97d4bd19dcb07d4da637de"
license "GPL-3.0-or-later"
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