diff --git a/.irb_config b/.irb_config
deleted file mode 100644
index 6077437004..0000000000
--- a/.irb_config
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# Note that we use a non-standard config file name to reduce
-# name clashes with other IRB config files like `.irbrc`.
-
-require 'irb/completion'
-
-IRB.conf[:SAVE_HISTORY] = 100
-IRB.conf[:HISTORY_FILE] = "#{__dir__}/.irb_history"
-IRB.conf[:IRB_NAME] = "brew"
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/brew_irbrc b/Library/Homebrew/brew_irbrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e41311ada7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/brew_irbrc
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Note: that we use a non-standard config file name to reduce
+# name clashes with other IRB config files like `.irbrc`.
+# Note #2: This doesn't work with system Ruby for some reason.
+
+require 'irb/completion'
+
+IRB.conf[:SAVE_HISTORY] = 100
+IRB.conf[:HISTORY_FILE] = "#{Dir.home}/.brew_irb_history"
+IRB.conf[:IRB_NAME] = "brew"
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/irb.rb b/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/irb.rb
index dd1c6bf21e..0fef03e89a 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/irb.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/irb.rb
@@ -65,13 +65,13 @@ module Homebrew
     ohai "Interactive Homebrew Shell", "Example commands available with: `brew irb --examples`"
     if args.pry?
       Pry.config.should_load_rc = false # skip loading .pryrc
-      Pry.config.history_file = (HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY/".pry_history").to_s
+      Pry.config.history_file = "#{Dir.home}/.brew_pry_history"
       Pry.config.memory_size = 100 # max lines to save to history file
       Pry.config.prompt_name = "brew"
 
       Pry.start
     else
-      ENV["IRBRC"] = (HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY/".irb_config").to_s
+      ENV["IRBRC"] = (HOMEBREW_LIBRARY_PATH/"brew_irbrc").to_s
 
       IRB.start
     end