There are a few tutorials where you can either do things by hand, OR you can leverage scripts which perform the tasks in an automated way. If you choose to run the scripts by following directions, there are a few things to install on your Mac that will streamline everything.
If you would prefer to do things by hand, you can skip this entire page. I've tried to document everything by hand first, then I go back and automate the bits I can after the fact. Said another way: you will not be penalized by these tutorials if you choose not to leverage the automation I've written.
If you've ever been asked to install Xcode before, you may have just experienced a cold sweat. Xcode takes a long time to download, then takes something like 15.3 weeks to decompress and complete installation.
However, this is NOT the massive, several GB download of Xcode from the App Store. This is only the CLI tools, which is download of a few hundred MBs. Not a big deal.
Rather than re-write great documentation, I'll point you over to https://mac.install.guide/commandlinetools/1.html instead. Go do that first, then come back.
Welcome back! It's good to see you again. I've missed you. How's your family? That's good to hear. I'm so happy for you!
Next: Homebrew is a package manager (think: App Store) for CLI tools. If you're familiar with:
yum,dnf,apt-get, orapkin Linux…chocoorwingetin Windows…npmfor Node.js…composerfor PHP…piporpoetryfor Python…
…it's pretty much the same concept. If you don't understand any of what I'm talking about, no worries. Just trying to provide you a mental shortcut. Although in this day and age, I certainly hope you know what an App Store is.
Again, rather than re-write great documentation, I'll point you over to https://mac.install.guide/homebrew/index.html instead. Go do your thing. I'll be waiting here.
At this point, you should have a working installation of Homebrew that you can run from your terminal app. If you run…
brew config…you should see some output that looks relatively like the following.
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.1.9
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: b0985dabec8517ab5afda7cfee7d59f1da4ed6ce
Last commit: 5 days ago
Core tap JSON: 06 Sep 11:08 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_BAT_THEME: Monokai Extended Bright
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_DISPLAY: /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.WdekfdqWnQ/org.xquartz:0
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: code -w
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 10
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.10 => /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/bin/ruby
CPU: 10-core 64-bit arm_firestorm_icestorm
Clang: 15.0.0 build 1500
Git: 2.42.0 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.1.2 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 14.0-arm64
CLT: 15.0.0.0.1.1692336968
Xcode: 15.0
Rosetta 2: false
Important
Obviously some of your details will be different. We're simply looking for a functioning Homebrew installation, and want to ensure the output avoids words like ERROR or THE BLACK DEATH IS UPON YOU. If you see anything like that, run for your life!
Still there? No black death? Good. Whew! Let's look at a few things we should plan to install… and why!
If you want to learn more, read the section titled “Understanding BSD vs GNU” to give you a 30,000-foot view of the situation.
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
| Python | Python is a programming language that some of these scripts are written in. You don't need to know Python, you just need to install it so that it can run the scripts. |
bash |
Bash is… well… let's say that we need it in order to run a few scripts that are written in a different programming language. The version of Bash that macOS ships with is very old (because reasons). This will install an up-to-date version. |
coreutils |
These are the GNU/Linux versions of CLI tools that are known as the "core utilities". On the CLI and inside scripts, they will always be called using g as the first letter. (E.g., rm → grm; xargs → gxargs.) |
findutils |
These are the GNU/Linux versions of CLI tools that are known as the "find utilities". On the CLI and inside scripts, they will always be called using g as the first letter. (E.g., find → gfind.) |
grep |
This is the GNU/Linux version of a tool called grep, which is used for reading the contents of things and/or filtering results. On the CLI and inside scripts, it will be called by the name ggrep. |
gnu-sed |
This is the GNU/Linux version of a tool called sed, which is used for editing strings of text. On the CLI and inside scripts, it will be called by the name gsed. |
gnu-tar |
This is the GNU/Linux version of a tool called tar, which is used for bundling files together into an archive. On the CLI and inside scripts, it will be called by the name gtar. |
p7zip |
This tool is used for compressing/decompressing archives, and is commonly used alongside tar. It's compression is better than zip, gz, or bz2, and is equivalent to xz. |
xz |
This tool is used for compressing/decompressing archives, and is commonly used alongside tar. It's compression is better than zip, gz, or bz2, and is equivalent to 7z. |
After ensuring that Homebrew is set-up, you can install all of these packages with the following terminal command:
brew install bash coreutils findutils grep gnu-sed gnu-tar p7zip python@3.11 xzIf you think about a family tree, you may have an Uncle Mike or a Great Aunt Ruth. And their kids end up being your cousins… somehow… and maybe being "removed" some number of times.
Think of macOS and Linux as having descended from two sisters. Sometimes you can see the family resemblance, but each side can also be pretty different from the other side. In this case, the macOS CLI tools were descended from something called FreeBSD, and the Linux CLI tools were descended from something called GNU. (I'm aiming for high-level understanding here, not 100% accuracy. Don't @ me.)
The CLI tools in macOS and Linux tend to look the same and more-or-less act the same, but there are some subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between the two. Some of those differences make scripts harder to write and run, however it's possible to install the GNU/Linux flavor of CLI tools onto macOS. So that's what we'll do. It will help give everything a level playing field across the board.