Using Homebrew with Linux

What is Homebrew

Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple or your Linux system didn’t.

The Homebrew package manager may be used on Linux and WSL 2. Homebrew was formerly referred to as Linuxbrew when running on Linux or WSL. Homebrew does not use any libraries provided by your host system, except glibc and gcc if they are new enough.

Features, installation instructions and requirements are described below. Terminology (e.g. the difference between a Cellar, Tap, Cask and so forth) is explained in the documentation.

Features

• Install software not packaged by your host distribution
• Install up-to-date versions of software when your host distribution is old
• Use the same package manager to manage your macOS, Linux, and Windows systems

Installing Homebrew

Installing on Debian/Ubuntu. First, we need some helper apps.

sudo apt-get install build-essential procps curl file git bat

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh && chmod +x install.sh

⚠️ Check the script and use it if you find it safe.

⛔ Do not run as root! Creat a user and continue

Add a new user

Use adduser <user> to create, give a proper password and the rest is optional.

adduser <user>

Add user to the sudo group

usermod -aG sudo <user>

Installation

Change to new user

su - <user>

Run the script if you consider it safe

/bin/bash install.sh

The following steps will be at the end of the output from printed the script.

Add Homebrew to your PATH

(echo; echo 'eval "$(/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /home/"$USER"/.bashrc

eval "$(/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Install dependencies

sudo apt-get install build-essential

For more information, see https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-on-Linux

Install GCC

It's recommend that you install GCC

brew install gcc

• Run brew help to get started
• Further documentation https://docs.brew.sh

Test for success

brew install hello

If you’re using an older distribution of Linux, installing your first package will also install a recent version of glibc and gcc. Use brew doctor to troubleshoot common issues.

⚠️ Please note that unlike macOS, Homebrew does not use a sandbox when building on Linux, so formulae may install outside the Homebrew prefix.

Uninstall Homebrew

Download the script and make it executable

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/uninstall.sh && chmod +x uninstall.sh

Run the script to uninstall Homebrew

/bin/bash uninstall.sh

References

Homebrew ^[1]