Homebrew, the perfect gift for command line lovers

If you're an OS X user who spends as much time on the command line as you do in the GUI, you're probably familiar with the MacPorts and Fink package management projects, making open source software easier to compile and run on Mac OS X. You may also be well-aware of the shortcomings of these projects when it comes to future-proof package management. A new, open source project called Homebrew may be exactly what you've been looking for. If you're not a lover of all things CLI, send a link to Homebrew as a great (free) last-minute gift for the Terminal-lover in your life.

My favorite thing about Homebrew is its ability to function perfectly well with /usr/local as its base directory, installing packages in their own folders but linking them to /usr/local/command. This makes them manageable with existing command line tools. Homebrew can work out of any directory you like, if /usr/local isn't your cup of tea. Installed packages are optimized and stripped based on your architecture, and makes great use of libraries you already have installed or that came with the system, reducing duplication and speeding up download, compile and install times significantly. Add in the zero-config installation, an already-extensive list of "formulas" (packages), a greatly-reduced need to sudo anything, and a Ruby-based framework for creating your own formulae and you've got a killer package for extending your command line toolset.

Homebrew is available for free on GitHub, and the main page has complete instructions for various types of installation (and reasons why you'd pick each one). Check it out, and have a merry CLI-mas!

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Source: http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew

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If you're an OS X user who spends as much time on the command line as you do in the GUI, you're probably familiar with the MacPorts and...

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nothing is wrong with them. except gentoo prefix is better.

(ok, so i've been 5 years on gentoo)

December 26 2009 at 5:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rob

Really what is wrong with fink or macports?

December 26 2009 at 4:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Rob's comment

Max Howell

Fink doesn't really work anymore. MacPorts had the following issues for me:

1. It duplicates all the base libraries that come with OS X and also stuff like Ruby and Python and their packaging systems
2. Contributing is a little tedious (Homebrew is super easy to contribute to)

Frankly I'd still recommend MacPorts to most people. Homebrew has become very developer centric. I'm not sure we want to change that really.

December 30 2009 at 4:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

David Frantz

I've looked into Homebrew before and frankly there are issues that bother me. Number one is their stated desire to have you minimize the use of sudo which is totally stupid on a Unix based system. They seem to support work arounds, but in my mind the default should be to require sudo. The attitude they have to security is bothersome.

Another issue with this is that for command line tools it is easier to just ./configure, make & sudo make instal,l command line tools if that is what you are interested in. Mac OS/X is Unix after all thus should handle installs to /use/local perfectly fine. For the limited number of CLI tools that I need beyound the basic install this is perfectly fine.

Where something like homebrew would come into it's own would be the installation and support of GUI software not yet ported to Aqua. That is stuff using GTK or QT, or possibly other large difficult to build apps. Given that I prefer apps that have been ported myself such as Aquamacs and MacVim which use Apple installers anyways.

Now don't take this to mean I think package management (that works) for the Mac is a bad thing. It isn't, it is just that for many it may be overkill if you only want a few updated CLI tools. Frankly the alternatives suck even harder especially MacPorts, so I'm really hoping these guys stick to their stated goals as they may just have a chance of becoming the package manager standard for alternative software on Mac OS/X. I'd just feel better if they had a better attitude with respect to security.

Dave

December 26 2009 at 8:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to David Frantz's comment

Max Howell

Thanks for your feedback.

> They seem to support work arounds

Use sudo or don't use sudo, it is completely up to you. Homebrew is all about flexability and choice.

> in my mind the default should be to require sudo

If you install it to /usr/local then Homebrew will require sudo. We suggest that you `sudo chown -R $USER:admin /usr/local`, but this an extra step, and it's optional.

There are lots of reasons I feel that sudo is a bit dated for this sort of thing on Mac:

1. Users drag and drop stuff like TextMate to /Applications already, most of the stuff people install with Homebrew is similar tools.
2. Your personal home computer is not a server
3. Homebrew doesn't install anything that will run as root
4. Having to type your password in all the time is a security smell

I wouldn't advocate not using sudo for package management on eg. Linux. The base system should be root owned. But Apple maintains the base on Mac. Homebrew just adds some tools on top.

December 30 2009 at 4:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jangles7

I know this is completely irrelevant to this post, but when I first glanced at it, I thought the title said "Hebrew, the perfect gift for command line lovers".

Merry Christmas!

December 25 2009 at 10:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ShALLaX

Superb! It's about time there was a decent package manager for OS X. Let's just hope this takes off.

December 25 2009 at 6:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to ShALLaX's comment

Alex Kahn

It already had taken off. Look at the number of forks this project has
on GitHub.

December 26 2009 at 8:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply