Homebrew

Homebrew at a glance

Homebrew is the de-facto standard package manager on macOS and is increasingly used on Linux as well. Sysadmins rely on it to install, update, and remove command-line tools, libraries, and full GUI applications (through Homebrew Cask) in a consistent way. Because Homebrew runs without root privileges in its own prefix and is fully scriptable, it is well suited for reproducible developer and admin setups, for example via a Brewfile.

The core application is released regularly as a tagged version, while formulae and casks are continuously updated through their associated taps. In day-to-day use, updating the package database usually happens automatically when running the update and upgrade commands.

When upgrading, pay attention to changes in supported operating system versions, shifts in default paths, and deprecated or renamed formulae. After larger version jumps, it is worth reviewing the release notes to spot breaking changes and altered default behavior early.