Homebrew - Explained in Simple English

So, there are tonnes of jargon, commands, processes that we follow blindly after surfing from the internet without knowing the actual reasons and under the hood processes, that just remain in our short term memory and get purged eventually, thus we don't feel comfortable using or even about discussing in a group about them.

It’ll give us a little satisfaction if once in a while we know what we are doing? ;). I will try to explain a few things in a simplified manner.

So, we use tonnes of apps, there are many methods to download it. One is,

App Store: simple easy downloads. No certification/installation issues we face

DMGs and Zip File downloads

Now for the apps that are not enlisted in the app store, We have simple downloads in zip and dmg extension files available from web, it just need a drag and drop to Applications if its dmg and needs an unzipper/unarchiver for zip files.

Third is Home brew(though there are many others too)

This is to install applications using the command line in Linux/MacOs for advanced users like developers and scientists who needs access to the applications that are not confined within a specific sandboxing. Homebrew is that ‘package manager’ for all those missing software! giving us a reason to smile :)

The list of packages offered is almost endless, check out this list ordered by the number of installations.

Installing Homebrew

Type following command in your terminal

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Using Homebrew

Just type “brew install app_you_need” and TADA! you are done!

Now download any cask/app that you need. example.

$ brew install unrar

$ brew cask install chromium. and many more…

!! Now..Enjoy!!