Homebrew is a non Apple official free and open-source software package management system that allows the installation of software on Apple's macOS operating system using the command line terminal.


Basic Usage

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To install software there are at least 3 commands: brew install, brew cask and brew tap:

  • Install wget software:
    • brew install wget
  • Uninstall wget software
    • brew uninstall wget
  • Install Vagrant GUI software[1], such as Atom or Google Chrome:
    • brew cask install vagrant
  • View info of package: brew info wget
  • Create your own package: brew create https://foo.com/bar-1.0.tgz
  • Get a list of installed packages (formulae in Homebrew terminology):
    • brew list[2]
    • brew list --versions (to include package versions)
    • brew list PACKAGE_NAME List of file includes in PACKAGE_NAME
    • brew cask list
    • brew bundle
    • brew leaves

Other commands: brew link

Advanced Usage

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  • Get a list of files installed with package_name: brew list package_name
  • Search available packages by name: brew search PACKAGE_NAME_TO_SEARCH
  • To autoupdate your software, you can use https://github.com/DomT4/homebrew-autoupdate

Maintenance

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Get latest version of brew and package information.

  • brew update or brew update -v

Get a list of not up to date packages:

  • brew outdated

Upgrade every installed package, see also https://github.com/DomT4/homebrew-autoupdate to autoupdate your software.

  • brew upgrade

To autoupdate your brew software, you can use

See also

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  1. https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask
  2. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/101090/list-of-all-packages-installed-using-homebrew