Brew Operations
Internal
Commands
update
Fetches the latest version of Homebrew and all formulae and upgrades. Use this to update brew itself.
upgrade
Upgrades software packages managed by brew to their latest versions.
doctor
Checks the Homebrew installation for potential problems and exit with a non-zero status if potential problems are found.
cleanup
Remove old version from cellar for all installed (or specified) formulae. Old downloads from the Homebrew download-cache are deleted.
list
Lists all installed formulae.
With a specific argument, list details about the installed artifacts associated with a specific formula.
brew list
brew list <formula>
Example:
brew list bash
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/bin/bash
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/bin/bashbug
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/include/bash/ (58 files)
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/lib/bash/ (26 files)
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/lib/pkgconfig/bash.pc
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/share/doc/ (10 files)
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/share/info/bash.info
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/share/locale/ (37 files)
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/share/man/ (2 files)
list versions
brew list --versions git-lfs
If no such formula is installed, the command exits with 1.
info
brew info bash
install
brew install <formula-name>
Install a Specific Package (Formula) Version
To install a specific formula version, follow this procedure, exemplified with terraform (if you need to apply it to a different formula, you might need to adapt it).
git clone git@github.com:Homebrew/homebrew-core.git cd homebrew-core git log master -- Formula/terraform.rb # find the specific version and write down the commit git checkout <commit> cp Formula/terraform.rb ~/tmp cd ~/tmp brew install ./terraform.rb
You might need to "brew unlink terraform" first.
Worked with terraform, gradle, yq.
update
uninstall
brew uninstall wget
formula
Displays the path where the specified formula is located.
brew formula <formula-name>
tap
Without any arguments, display all taps available on the system:
brew tap
Add a New Tap
brew tap [--full] <user>/<repo> [URL]
Install Homebrew Cask
brew tap caskroom/cask
For more about Homebrew Cask see:
pin/unpin
The brew pin command will prevent Homebrew from updating/upgrading the installed version of the specified formula when brew upgrade is executed. brew unpin releases this constraint.
switch
link
The 'link' command symlinks an installed package, located in /usr/local/Cellar to /usr/local
unlink
The 'unlink' command removes the symlink of installed package, located in /usr/local/Cellar to /usr/local
brew unlink git
cask
cask list
brew cask list
With no args, lists installed casks.
brew cask audit
cask install
Install the Latest Version
Install the latest version of a cask:
brew cask install vagrant
Install a Specific Cask Version
It seems it's a big deal to revert to a specific version with Vagrant, it requires low level intervention: https://www.jverdeyen.be/mac/downgrade-brew-cask-application/.
This is a step-by-step example for Vagrant.
Clone the Homebrew homebrew-cask repository:
git clone git@github.com:Homebrew/homebrew-cask.git
Pull the history of the specific cask you want to downgrade (in this case vagrant.rb):
git log master -- Casks/vagrant.rb
Based on the commit comment, pick the commit corresponding to the desired version:
commit ae2a540ffee555491ccbb2cefa4296c76355ef9f
Author: Nikolas Evers <vintagesucks@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue Oct 15 12:22:12 2019 +0200
Update vagrant from 2.2.5 to 2.2.6 (#70854)
Uninstall the current version:
brew cask uninstall vagrant
Using the commit identified above, install the desired version:
brew cask install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/caskroom/homebrew-cask/ae2a540ffee555491ccbb2cefa4296c76355ef9f/Casks/vagrant.rb
cask uninstall
Uninstall the specified cask:
brew cask uninstall vagrant