How to install and use homebrew! A Mac OSX Package Manager

What is Homebrew?

homebrew is known as “The Missing Package Manager for macOS”.

It is used to install the UNIX tools Apple didn’t include with macOS in an extremely easy and flexible manner.

Prerequisites

• A 64-bit Intel CPU or Apple Silicon CPU
• macOS Mojave (10.14) (or higher)
• Command Line Tools (CLT) for Xcode: xcode-select --install, developer.apple.com/downloads or Xcode 3

How to install it on MacOSX?

Install xcode developer tools.

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % xcode-select --install

Now install homebrew:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

You will be prompted to enter sudo password a few times during the installation process.

Verify the installation:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % brew --version
Homebrew 3.2.13
Homebrew/homebrew-core (git revision 753dedc193; last commit 2021-09-22)

Homebrew Shell Completion — BASH / ZSH

Homebrew comes with completion definitions for the brew command.

zsh, bash and fish are currently supported.

If you have zsh shell ->

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % echo $SHELL
/bin/zsh

To make Homebrew’s completions available in zsh, you must get the Homebrew-managed zsh site-functions on your FPATH before initialising zsh’s completion facility. Add the following to your ~/.zshrc file:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % cat .zshrc 
if type brew &>/dev/null
then
  FPATH="$(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions:${FPATH}"
autoload -Uz compinit
  compinit
fi

If you have bash shell ->

To make Homebrew’s completions available in bash, you must source the definitions as part of your shell’s startup. Add the following to your ~/.bash_profile (or, if it doesn’t exist, ~/.profile):

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % cat .bash_profile
if type brew &>/dev/null
then
  HOMEBREW_PREFIX="$(brew --prefix)"
  if [[ -r "${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh" ]]
  then
    source "${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh"
  else
    for COMPLETION in "${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/etc/bash_completion.d/"*
    do
      [[ -r "${COMPLETION}" ]] && source "${COMPLETION}"
    done
  fi
fi

If you install the bash-completion formula, this will automatically source the completions’ initialisation script (so you do not need to follow the instructions in the caveats).

How to install unix tools with homebrew ?

The homebrew is now installed on you system and you can use it to install various unix tools.

Syntax:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % brew install <package_name>

For example here I will be installing ansible configuration management tool on my Mac Book:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % brew install ansible

How to search package with homebrew?

You can search or list available packages by running following commands :

Syntax:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % brew search <package_name>

Example:

rakesh_jain@my-mac ~ % brew search docker
==> Formulae
docker                              docker-credential-helper-ecr        docker-machine-driver-vmware        docker-squash
docker-clean                        docker-gen                          docker-machine-driver-vultr         docker-swarm
docker-completion                   docker-ls                           docker-machine-driver-xhyve         docker2aci
docker-compose                      docker-machine                      docker-machine-nfs                  dockerize
docker-compose-completion           docker-machine-completion           docker-machine-parallels            lazydocker
docker-credential-helper            docker-machine-driver-hyperkit      docker-slim                         mockery
==> Casks
homebrew/cask-versions/docker-edge              homebrew/cask/docker                            homebrew/cask/docker-toolbox

That’s all!

Hope you like the tutorial. Stay tuned and don’t forget to provide your feedback in the response section.

Happy Learning!