How to install Homebrew securely

September 17, 2022 2-minute read

The instructions at https://brew.sh/ are extremely dangerous! Here is how to install homebrew properly.

NOTE: we assume your homebrew path is: ~/Workspace/Hub/brew

Code Link to heading

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Homebrew/brew.git ~/Workspace/Hub/brew

cd ~/Workspace/Hub/brew

Review the code carefully!
Check the commit sha matches the one from the last commit on the repository website:
```
git rev-parse HEAD
```
Now you have a secure copy of the repository and you can automate the process.

Automation Link to heading

IMPORTANT: on Linux, homebrew adds itself in the front of your PATH, so any package installed by homebrew will have higher priority than your system packages. This includes critical ones like pkg-config, which means you will start seeing errors when compiling, unless you duplicate all your compile time or runtime libraries by installling them with the brew command.

To avoid this, we will only enable homebrew manually in the shell we need it.

Add the following setup to your ~/.bash_profile to allow enabling homebrew on demand:

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Homebrew
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1

function Enable {
  case "$1" in
    "brew")
      eval "$(~/Workspace/Hub/brew/bin/brew shellenv)"
      shift
      ;;
    *)
      return
      ;;
  esac
}

Set up your current shell by executing this in your homebrew directory:
```
eval `bin/brew shellenv`
```
Any future shells can have homebrew by executing this command:
```
Enable brew
```
Ensure analytics are disabled at the command level:
```
brew analytics off
```
Update everything:
```
brew update --force
brew upgrade
```

Usage Link to heading

Remember, you need to enable it first before running any commands:

Enable brew

Now you can install any package with a clear conscience.

brew install hello