brew/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md

brew(1) -- The missing package manager for OS X

SYNOPSIS

brew [--verbose|-v] command [options] [formula] ...
brew [--version|-v]

DESCRIPTION

Homebrew is the easiest and most flexible way to install the UNIX tools Apple didn't include with OS X.

OPTIONS

• -v, --verbose command [options] [formula] ...: Prints extra, command-specific debugging information. Note that brew -v by itself is the same as brew --version.

ESSENTIAL COMMANDS

For the full command list, see the COMMANDS section.

• install : Install .

• remove : Uninstall .

• update: Fetch the newest version of Homebrew from GitHub using git(1).

• list: List all installed formulae.

• search, -S |//: Perform a substring search of formula names for . If is surrounded with slashes, then it is interpreted as a regular expression. If no search term is given, all available formula are displayed.

COMMANDS

• audit []: Check for Homebrew coding style violations. This should be run before submitting a new formula.

  If no are provided, all of them are checked.

  audit exits with a non-zero status if any errors are found. This is useful, for instance, for implementing pre-commit hooks.

• cat : Display the source to .

• cleanup [--force] [-ns] []: For all installed or specific formulae, remove any older versions from the cellar. By default, does not remove out-of-date keg-only brews, as other software may link directly to specific versions. In addition old downloads from the Homebrew download-cache are deleted.

  If --force is passed, remove out-of-date keg-only brews as well.

  If -n is passed, show what would be removed, but do not actually remove anything.

  If -s is passed, scrubs the cache, removing downloads for even the latest versions of formula. Note downloads for any installed formula will still not be deleted. If you want to delete those too: rm -rf $(brew --cache)

• create [--autotools|--cmake] [--no-fetch] : Generate a formula for the downloadable file at and open it in EDITOR. Homebrew will attempt to automatically derive the formula name and version, but if it fails, you'll have to make your own template. The wget formula serves as a simple example.

  If --autotools is passed, create a basic template for an Autotools-style build. If --cmake is passed, create a basic template for a CMake-style build.

  If --no-fetch is passed, Homebrew will not download to the cache and will thus not add the MD5 to the formula for you.

• deps [--1] [-n] [--tree] [--all] : Show 's dependencies.

  If --1 is passed, only show dependencies one level down, instead of recursing.

  If -n is passed, show dependencies in topological order.

  If --tree is passed, show dependencies as a tree.

  If --all is passed, show dependencies for all formulae.

• diy [--set-name] [--set-version]: Automatically determine the installation prefix for non-Homebrew software.

  Using the output from this command, you can install your own software into the Cellar and then link it into Homebrew's prefix with brew link.

  The options --set-name and --set-version each take an argument and allow you to explicitly set the name and version of the package you are installing.

• doctor: Check your system for potential problems. Doctor exits with a non-zero status if any problems are found.

• edit: Open all of Homebrew for editing.

• edit : Open in EDITOR.

• fetch [--force] [-v] [--HEAD] [--deps] : Download the source packages for the given . For tarballs, also print MD5 and SHA1 checksums.

  If --HEAD is passed, download the HEAD versions of instead. -v may also be passed to make the VCS checkout verbose, useful for seeing if an existing HEAD cache has been updated.

  If --force is passed, remove a previously cached version and re-fetch.

  If --deps is passed, also download dependencies for any listed .

• home: Open Homebrew's own homepage in a browser.

• home : Open 's homepage in a browser.

• info [--all] : Display information about .

  If --all is passed, show info for all formulae.

• info --github : Open a browser to the GitHub History page for formula .

  To view formula history locally: brew log -p <formula>.

• info : Print the name and version that will be detected for .

• install [--force] [--debug] [--ignore-dependencies] [--fresh] [--use-clang] [--use-gcc] [--use-llvm] [--build-from-source] [--devel] [--HEAD] : Install .

  is usually the name of the formula to install, but it can be specified several different ways. See [SPECIFYING FORMULAE][].

  If --force is passed, will install if it exists, even if it is blacklisted.

  If --debug is passed and brewing fails, open a shell inside the temporary directory used for compiling.

  If --ignore-dependencies is passed, skip installing any dependencies of any kind. If they are not already present, the formula will probably fail to install.

  If --fresh is passed, the installation process will not re-use any options from previous installs.

  If --use-clang is passed, attempt to compile using clang.

  If --use-gcc is passed, attempt to compile using GCC. This is useful for systems whose default compiler is LLVM-GCC.

  If --use-llvm is passed, attempt to compile using the LLVM front-end to GCC. NOTE: Not all formulae will build with LLVM.

  If --build-from-source is passed, compile from source even if a bottle is provided for .

  If --devel is passed, and defines it, install the development version.

  If --HEAD is passed, and defines it, install the HEAD version, aka master, trunk, unstable.

  To install a newer version of HEAD use brew rm <foo> && brew install --HEAD <foo> or brew install --force --HEAD <foo>.

• install --interactive [--git] : Download and patch , then open a shell. This allows the user to run ./configure --help and otherwise determine how to turn the software package into a Homebrew formula.

  If --git is passed, Homebrew will create a Git repository, useful for creating patches to the software.

• ln, link [--force] [--dry-run] : Symlink all of 's installed files into the Homebrew prefix. This is done automatically when you install formula, but can be useful for DIY installations.

  If --force is passed, Homebrew will delete files which already exist in the prefix while linking.

  If --dry-run or -n is passed, Homebrew will list all files which would be deleted by brew link --force, but will not actually link or delete any files.

• ls, list [--unbrewed] [--versions] []: Without any arguments, list all installed formulae.

  If are given, list the installed files for . Combined with --verbose, recursively list the contents of all subdirectories in each 's keg.

  If --unbrewed is passed, list all files in the Homebrew prefix not installed by Homebrew.

  If --versions is passed, show the version number for installed formulae, or only the specified formulae if are given.

• log [git-log-options] ...: Show the git log for the given formulae. Options that git-log(1) recognizes can be passed before the formula list.

• missing []: Check the given for missing dependencies.

  If no are given, check all installed brews.

• options [--compact] [--all] [--installed] : Display install options specific to .

  If --compact is passed, show all options on a single line separated by spaces.

  If --all is passed, show options for all formulae.

  If --installed is passed, show options for all installed formulae.

• outdated [--quiet]: Show formulae that have an updated version available.

  If --quiet is passed, list only the names of outdated brews. Otherwise, the versions are printed as well.

• prune: Remove dead symlinks from the Homebrew prefix. This is generally not needed, but can be useful when doing DIY installations.

• rm, remove, uninstall [--force] : Uninstall .

  If --force is passed, and there are multiple versions of installed, delete all installed versions.

• search, -S |//: Perform a substring search of formula names for . If is surrounded with slashes, then it is interpreted as a regular expression. If no search term is given, all available formula are displayed.

• search --macports|--fink : Search for on the MacPorts or Fink package search page.

• tap []: Tap a new formula repository from GitHub, or list existing taps.

  is of the form /, e.g. brew tap homebrew/dupes.

• test : A few formulae provide a test method. brew test <formula> runs this test method. There is no standard output or return code, but it should generally indicate to the user if something is wrong with the installed formula.

  Example: brew install jruby && brew test jruby

• unlink : Unsymlink from the Homebrew prefix. This can be useful for temporarily disabling a formula: brew unlink foo && commands && brew link foo.

• untap : Remove a tapped repository.

• update [--rebase]: Fetch the newest version of Homebrew and all formulae from GitHub using git(1).

  If --rebase is specified then git pull --rebase is used.

• upgrade []: Upgrade outdated brews.

  If are given, upgrade only the specified brews.

• uses [--installed] : Show the formulas that specify as a dependency. The list is not recursive; only one level of dependencies is resolved.

  If --installed is passed, only list installed formulae.

• versions [--compact] : List previous versions of , along with a command to checkout each version.

  If --compact is passed, show all options on a single line separated by spaces.

• --cache: Display Homebrew's download cache. Default: ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew

• --cache : Display the file or directory used to cache .

• --cellar: Display Homebrew's Cellar path. Default: /usr/local/Cellar

• --cellar : Display the location in the cellar where would be installed, without any sort of versioned directory as the last path.

• --config: Show Homebrew and system configuration useful for debugging. If you file a bug report, you will likely be asked for this information if you do not provide it.

• --prefix: Display Homebrew's install path. Default: /usr/local

• --prefix : Display the location in the cellar where is or would be installed.

• --repository: Display where Homebrew's .git directory is located. For standard installs, the prefix and repository are the same directory.

• -v, --version: Print the version number of brew to standard error and exit.

EXTERNAL COMMANDS

Homebrew, like git(1), supports external commands. These are executable scripts that reside somewhere in the PATH, named brew-<cmdname> or brew-<cmdname>.rb, which can be invoked like brew cmdname. This allows you to create your own commands without modifying Homebrew's internals.

A number of (useful, but unsupported) external commands are included and enabled by default:

$ ls `brew --repository`/Library/Contributions/cmds

Documentation for the included external commands as well as instructions for creating your own can be found on the wiki: http://wiki.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/External-Commands

SPECIFYING FORMULAE

Many Homebrew commands accept one or more arguments. These arguments can take several different forms:

• The name of a formula: e.g. git, node, wget.

• The fully-qualified name of a tapped formula: Sometimes a formula from a tapped repository may conflict with one in mxcl/master. You can still access these formulae by using a special syntax, e.g. homebrew/dupes/vim or homebrew/versions/node4.

• An arbitrary URL: Homebrew can install formulae via URL, e.g. https://raw.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/master/Library/Formula/git.rb. The formula file will be cached for later use.

ENVIRONMENT

• HOMEBREW_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE: If set, instructs Homebrew to compile from source even when a formula provides a bottle.

• HOMEBREW_CACHE: If set, instructs Homebrew to use the give directory as the download cache. Otherwise, ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew is used.

  This can be used to keep downloads out of your home directory, if you have it mounted on an SSD or are using FileVault for instance.

• HOMEBREW_CURL_VERBOSE: If set, Homebrew will pass --verbose when invoking curl(1).

• HOMEBREW_DEBUG: If set, instructs Homebrew to always assume --debug when running commands.

• HOMEBREW_DEBUG_INSTALL: When brew install -d or brew install -i drops into a shell, HOMEBREW_DEBUG_INSTALL will be set to the name of the formula being brewed.

• HOMEBREW_DEBUG_PREFIX: When brew install -d or brew install -i drops into a shell, HOMEBREW_DEBUG_PREFIX will be set to the target prefix in the Cellar of the formula being brewed.

• HOMEBREW_EDITOR: If set, Homebrew will use this editor when editing a single formula, or several formulae in the same directory.

  NOTE: brew edit will open all of Homebrew as discontinuous files and directories. TextMate can handle this correctly in project mode, but many editors will do strange things in this case.

• HOMEBREW_KEEP_INFO: If set, Homebrew will not remove files from share/info, allowing them to be linked from the Cellar. To access these info files, prepend share/info to your INFOPATH environment variable.

  Example: export INFOPATH='/usr/local/share/info:/usr/share/info'

• HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: If set, instructs Homebrew to use the value of HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS as the number of parallel jobs to run when building with make(1).

  Default: the number of available CPU cores.

• HOMEBREW_SVN: When exporting from Subversion, Homebrew will use HOMEBREW_SVN if set, a Homebrew-built Subversion if installed, or the system-provided binary.

  Set this to force Homebrew to use a particular svn binary.

• HOMEBREW_TEMP: If set, instructs Homebrew to use HOMEBREW_TEMP as the temporary directory for building packages. This may be needed if your system temp directory and Homebrew Prefix are on different volumes, as OS X has trouble moving symlinks across volumes when the target does not yet exist.

  This issue typically occurs when using FileVault or custom SSD configurations.

• HOMEBREW_USE_CLANG: If set, instructs Homebrew to compile using clang.

• HOMEBREW_USE_GCC: If set, instructs Homebrew to compile using gcc.

• HOMEBREW_USE_LLVM: If set, instructs Homebrew to compile using LLVM.

  NOTE: Not all formulae build correctly with LLVM.

• HOMEBREW_VERBOSE: If set, instructs Homebrew to always assume --verbose when running commands.

USING HOMEBREW BEHIND A PROXY

Homebrew uses several commands for downloading files (e.g. curl, git, svn). Many of these tools can download via a proxy. It's common for these tools to read proxy parameters from environment variables.

For the majority of cases setting http_proxy is enough. You can set this in your shell profile, or you can use it before a brew command:

http_proxy=http://<host>:<port> brew install foo

If your proxy requires authentication:

http_proxy=http://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port> brew install foo

SEE ALSO

Homebrew Wiki: http://wiki.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/

git(1), git-log(1)

AUTHORS

Max Howell, a splendid chap.

BUGS

See Issues on GitHub: http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/issues