2 min read

Yesterday, Mike McQuaid, Homebrew’s lead maintainer announced the release of Homebrew 1.9.0. The release has major updates like Linux support, (optional) automatic brew cleanup, providing bottles (binary packages) to more Homebrew users and much more.

Homebrew is an open-source software package management system that simplifies the installation of software on Apple’s macOS operating system. Homebrew automatically handles all dependencies and installs requested software into one common location thus providing users with easy access and quick updates.

Features of Homebrew 1.9.0

  1. Beta support for Linux and Windows 10; with the Windows Subystem for Linux. Linuxbrew (Homebrew on Linux) does not require root access.
  2. If the HOMEBREW_INSTALL_CLEANUP environment variable is set, brew cleanup runs periodically on the system. On re-install, install or upgrade; the HOMEBREW_INSTALL_CLEANUP environment variable will also trigger individual formula cleanup on reinstall, install or upgrade.
  3. brew prune has been replaced by brew cleanup and is now run as part of brew cleanup.
  4. Homebrew 1.9.0 will not run on 32-bit Intel CPUs.
  5. Incomplete downloads can now be resumed when the server rejects HEAD requests. This is particularly useful since some HTTP servers apparently don’t support HEAD.
  6. brew bottle will allow relocation of more bottles. This will be done by ignoring source code and skipping matches to build dependencies.
  7. macOS Mojave bottles are optimized for the newer CPUs required by Mojave.

..and much more!

What to expect in Homebrew 2.0.0?

  1. Official support for Linux, Windows10; with the Windows Subsystem for Linux
  2. Homebrew 2.0.0 will stop running on macOS versions 10.8 and below.
  3. Homebrew 2.0.0 will stop the migration of old installations from the legacy Homebrew/homebrew repository.

While most users are excited about the news, some of them are not satisfied with Homebrew’s documentation.

Source: Hacker News

You can head over to Homebrews’ official blog to know more about the additional features introduced in Homebrew 1.9.0.

Read Next

Homebrew’s Github repo got hacked in 30 mins. How can open source projects fight supply chain attacks?

An update on Bcachefs- the “next generation Linux filesystem”

The Linux and RISC-V foundations team up to drive open source development and adoption of RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA)

Melisha Dsouza