Homebrew – Command-Line Package Manager
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Homebrew – The Missing Package Manager for OS X
Homebrew describes itself as “The missing package manager for OS X”, which is a pretty apt description. The program is a written in Ruby and it allows users to download as well as install packages from the command-line with ridiculous ease. Homebrew has a couple advantages over its rival MacPorts (a different package manage for OS X) which for me caused no end in troubles, that make it the clear choice for Mac users.
Using Homebrew
The syntax for Homebrew is incredibly simple. All you have to enter into your Terminal to install packages is:
brew install somepackage
Replace some package with a valid entry and Homebrew will immediately begin download the necessary packages (including those packages necessary for supporting your desired package.) Once installed is equally simple to uninstall packages. Using the following syntax Homebrew will uninstall packages:
brew uninstall somepackage
To update your Homebrew packages you just have to enter this simple bit of code:
brew update
Getting Started Using Homebrew
On the Homebrew webpage there are extremely simple directions on how to get started using Hombrew. You can find them at: https://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/ and can read the home-brew wiki at: https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/wiki to find out even more cool things to do with Homebrew. You can also checkout https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/tree/master/Library/Formula/ to see all the different packages available for download with Homebrew. Below is a list of packages to get started with Homebrew.
Packages
]curl – A command line tool for transferring protocol using URL syntax. It is capable of doing many things including but not limited to: displaying webpage source code in the Terminal window and downloading webpage source code. Check out the cURL Wikipedia Page or the cURL project homepage.
wget – Similar to cURL, wget is a command line tool for retrieving files using widely accepted internet protocols like HTTP or FTP. To learn more see the wget Wiki or the GNU wget project page.
emacs – Emacs is a widely used and highly effective code editor for the Terminal. To learn more about Emacs check out the Emacs wiki or the GNU Emacs project webpages.
htop – Htop is an interactive system-monitor/process-viewer originally written for Linux and now available for OS X under a GNU license. To learn more about Htop check out the Htop sourceforge page or its Wikipedia article.
ack – ack bills itself as a “Better than grep” search tool for looking through code. You can visit ack’s homepage betterthangrep.com to learn more.
rtorrent – rTorrent is a command-line torrent downloader that you can get through Homebrew. Checkout the rTorrent project webpage or its Wikipedia article to learn more.
Wrapping Up
Homebrew is a great tool that extends the power of the command line in many ways. With its easy syntax and library of packages Homebrew is for users of all levels, and is definitely worth checking out. If there is anything you would like to ask or let us know please shoot us a message or leave your comment below.
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