As a long-time Linux user, I’ve tried many different package managers. When I heard about Homebrew, I was curious to get my hands on it. Not having a macOS device, I had to resist that urge. Until I learned that Homebrew supports Linux, too.
For those unfamiliar,Homebrewis a popular package manager written in the Ruby programming language that makesinstalling software from the command lineincredibly easy. On macOS, it’s a go-to tool for casual users and developers who want to quickly grab everything from programming languages to open-source utilities without digging through installer files or App Store clutter.
Homebrew works by handling all the downloading, compiling, and linking for you, often with a single command. It’s known for being simple, fast, and user-friendly, especially compared to the more fragmented experience of nativeLinux package managers, which may vary across distros.
Homebrew Is Available For Linux Too
As someone who has never used macOS before, I used to think that Homebrew was an exclusive product for Mac users. It always seemed like one of those polished, Mac-only tools that didn’t quite cross over into the Linux world. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that it isn’t just for macOS, it works on Linux too. Like many other package managers, you can use Homebrew on Linux systems as well.
It turns out that Homebrew has supported Linux for quite a while now under the name “Linuxbrew”, but then got folded into the main Homebrew project. That means whether you’re on macOS or Linux, you’re essentially using the same Homebrew, with some Linux-specific adjustments under the hood.
This means that it’s not in some watered-down or unofficial form. The Linux version is part of the main Homebrew project, offering nearly the same experience for Linux users who want a cleaner, more consistent way to manage software. This discovery was the spark that led me to try it out on my own Linux setup. And honestly? I was curious to see how well it actually works in a non-macOS environment.
Installing and Setting Up Homebrew on Linux
The easiest way to install Homebrew is to use the official installation script. Homebrew provides a one-liner command that takes care of the whole installation process.
The above command basically downloads the install script from Homebrew’s GitHub repository usingthe curl command-line tool. The/bin/bash -cpart invokes a new Bash shell to run a command. The -c option tells Bash to execute the following string as a command.
Be careful of running scripts from the internet. Make sure to validate the content to see if there’s anything dangerous in it.
you may check the script onthe GitHub repository. After running the command, it may ask for your password. Once you enter that, you’ll see some text describing what the script will do. Press Enter to continue the installation process.
Once the installation is over, the script will warn you about Homebrew not being in your PATH. So let’s set that up. Add Homebrew to your PATH:
Apply the changes by loading the .bashrc file:
Make sure to modify the above commands to use youruser’s home directorybefore running them. After that, the last thing to do is install some dependencies for Homebrew.
Now you should be ready to use Homebrew on Linux. To verify if your installation was successful, run:
It should display some brew commands and how to use them.
Basic Usage of Homebrew
Let’s use Homebrew to install our first package. To do so, run:
For example, let’sinstall a simple app using Homebrewthat prints “Hello, world!”
You can run the installed package like any other package, as a command in the terminal.
If you want to search for a package name, use the search command.
This brings back a result consisting of all package names that contain the word you searched for. Here’s an example where I search for"git"using Homebrew.
You can also update Homebrew itself. To do so, run:
Like other Linux package managers, a simple way to keep the brew repositories and packages updated is to run:
To uninstall a package, simply use the uninstall command.
If you want to uninstall Homebrew from Linux, then there’san uninstall scriptas well. Check the script to verify its content. Then, uninstall Homebrew with the following command:
This command works similarly to the installation command.
My Experience Using Homebrew
The very first thing I noticed while using Homebrew is that it’s quite user-friendly. From installation to running each command, it shows detailed output showcasing what’s happening behind the scenes. If anything goes wrong or you need to do something in the next step, it’s also mentioned for your convenience. They also link to the docs quite frequently in the terminal output.
Speaking of documentation, it’s enriched with everything you need to know to get up and running with Homebrew. It lists the common terminologies,man page styledcommand usages, information on the subcommands and available options, and evenenvironment variables.
Due to the detailed suggestions, I had no problem using Homebrew. The built-in help was also quite useful. On top of the help command, you also get to see a list of available commands in brew with thebrew commandscommand. There are built-in troubleshooting features.
If you don’t understand how to use a certain brew command, you may check the help section specifically for that single command. For example, while using Homebrew’s various features, I wanted to know what would happen if I ran thebrew cleanupcommand. For that, you can find what happens by passing that command to the help command, like this:
As you can see, there is detailed information on using that specific command and what it does. All of these gave a smooth experience using Homebrew.
Homebrew can be useful for installing packages that aren’t easily available on your distro. For many software programs, you may need to useFlatpak,Snap, orinstall from source. Using Homebrew can make it much easier to install and maintain.
For some distros, finding an updated package is difficult. You either have to deal with an outdated package or get the updated one via cumbersome means. If that package is available on Homebrew, you’re able to easily get the updated one using a single command.
In the upcoming days, I can see myself continuing to use Homebrew on Linux for managing Linux packages due to its quality of life features and rich documentation. Especially if you’re a developer, you’re bound to love it.
There’s much more to Homebrew beyond what I could cover in this guide. So if you want to learn more about it, definitely check outthe official documentation. There’s also adiscussion forumto meet other users and aLinux-specific guide, too.
