Install Homebrew without Xcode
The large update effort of Xcode has always annoyed me. I only need the command line tools from the extensive Xcode package. With my new MacBook Pro (M2 Pro) I will do some things differently. Homebrew without Xcode is one of them. In this post I describe the installation.
For macOS, the package manager Homebrew is essential in my opinion. It makes the installation and updates of programs and tools easy and fast.
Install Command Line Tools
Even though the terminal command looks like Xcode is coming into play again, it only installs the command line tools.
xcode-select --installAccept the license conditions and wait until the installation of the Commend Line Tools is finished. After that install Homebrew.
Install Homebrew
On the home page of - Homebrew - copy the terminal instruction for the installation, paste it in the terminal and start it with Return.
It asks for the password of the logged in user. If entered, then the installation routine shows which scripts are installed by Homebrew and which directories are created.
Enter - to start the installation of Homebrew.
Homebrew or brew is not yet in the path. brew is the program name for homebrew. In the terminal, a statement is displayed with which brew can be included in the path. Copy these instructions in a block and paste this at the prompt. Confirm with Enter. The path entry is retained even if the system is restarted.
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/frankkunert/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"Your path statement will be different, at least from the username.
Check if the path entry worked. At the prompt, enter the brew help statement.
The latest version of Homebrew has just been installed. But to check if everything really works, enter the command brew update.
Update of the Command Line Tools
It was unclear to me until recently how the Command Line Tools are updated. Today I installed the update for macOS Ventura 13.3. In the update window the Command Line Tools were also displayed and updated together with Ventura 13.3. So the update is “automatically” provided and maintained by Apple.
Conclusion
The volunteer operators of Homebrew can only be thanked. The service costs nothing and the operators have, apart from work, only the satisfaction of providing something useful and missing.
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