Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide

Installing the Homebrew Package Manager

Homebrew is a free application that simplifies the process of installing command-line tools. With a single command, you can search for, install, uninstall, or update any of thousands of free tools. To install Homebrew:

1. Visit http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/ and follow links to the installation instructions.

2. Open a Terminal window on your Mac.

3. The Homebrew installation instructions will provide you with a long, cryptic command (beginning with /usr/bin/ruby...). Copy and paste this command into the shell in your Terminal window, and press Enter.

4. As the installation command runs in the shell, it will prompt you with questions. Respond to them in the shell. When the installation completes, you’ll have a new command available in the shell, brew, for installing and managing software packages.

5. Run the brew doctor command, which validates that Homebrew is properly installed:

   ➜ brew doctor

   If you see any error messages, read them carefully and correct whatever problems are reported. For example, this message:

   Error: no such file or directory - /usr/local/Cellar

   indicates a directory is missing, so you’d run mkdir /usr/local/Cellar to create it. Keep rerunning brew doctor until there are no errors and you see this message:

   ➜ brew doctor
   Your system is raring to brew.

   indicating that the installation is correct and complete.

Guess what? You are finally done! After all that work installing Xcode, the Command Line Tools, and Homebrew, you now have a simple package ...