Homebrew is an awesome command-line software management solution for macOS (similar to MacPorts). It can install pretty much all software required for web development and keep it organised (under/usr/local) and updated with a single command.
Why is it awesome?
- Installs packages quickly without having to download and run the installers via a web browser.
- Builds everything from source (unless installing from cask) which makes it secure. Compares checksums of the download files against known references.
- Places everything under
/usr/localand doesn’t use root privileges for added security and limited system access.
Use It
Here is how to install some of the most popular packages. In most cases you just need to run brew install PACKAGENAME or brew cask install PACKAGENAME for packages that are distributed as binaries.
Development Tools
brew install node
Install Composer:
brew install composer
Editors
Install Visual Studio Code:
brew cask install visual-studio-code
Install Atom:
brew cask install atom
Virtual Development Environments
Install VirtualBox:
brew cask install virtualbox
Install Vagrant:
brew cask install vagrant
Install Docker and Docker Compose:
brew install docker docker-compose
Useful Commands
Update Homebrew and the package information:
brew update
Update all installed packages:
brew upgrade
Remove old versions of packages:
brew cleanup
List all installed packages:
brew list
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