Installing Homebrew (brew) on macOS
The idea is simple: if you need a package or service that exists in Linux, you can likely install it on macOS using Homebrew. This is a quick guide to enable Homebrew on your Mac.
TLDR; Homebrew is a Package Manager for macOS. This is a quick guide to enable Homebrew on your Mac.
If you are not yet familiar with the concept of Package Managers, you can visit the following article to learn more about it: What are Package Managers ...?.
At its core, macOS is based on Darwin, a Unix-like distribution that serves as the foundation for Apple's entire Operating System ecosystem. This is why tools like Homebrew are available, providing a wide range of applications and packages available in Linux.
The idea is simple: if you need a package or service that exists in Linux, you can likely install it on macOS using Homebrew. I use Homebrew to quickly and easily install services such as MySQL, PHP, SQLite, Terraform, and other software development-related applications.
Prerequisites
To install the latest version of Homebrew as of today, we must meet the following prerequisites:
- A Mac with a 64-bit Intel CPU or Apple Silicon.
- macOS Ventura (13) (or a more recent version) installed on an officially supported device.
- Note: Devices using OpenCore patches are not supported.
- Command Line Tools (CLT) for Xcode by running
xcode-select --install. Alternatively, you can download the installation package from https://developer.apple.com/download/all/). - Bash or another shell that allows the installation to be executed.
Installation
To install Homebrew, we need to follow these steps:
- With administrator permissions, run the following command:
bash /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Note: After running the command, follow the instructions to complete the installation.
That's it! Installing Homebrew is not complicated at all.
After completing the installation, you can verify that Homebrew has been installed correctly if you can access the brew command from your console.
If you see a response similar to the one shown when executing the command, it means that Homebrew has been installed correctly on your device.
Sources consulted:
- Unix Like - Wikipedia
- Darwin (operating system) - Wikipedia
- Homebrew Website