Homebrew

Homebrew describes itself as “The missing package manager for macOS”. In IceCube we use it to install third-party software for macOS needed to run IceTray and the IceCube software suite. Nowadays you can also run Homebrew on Linux for the same purpose.

Some history

Formerly, IceCube used our own fork of MacPorts [1] with a reduced set of packages that provided only the software we needed and the MacPorts infrastructure needed to maintain them. This was referred to as “I3 Ports”, or generically as just “Ports”. For a long time I3 Ports worked well (and it mostly still does), but occasionally some major effort was needed to be put into the infrastructure parts of Ports due to changes in the greater Linux ecosystem. Also, not long after our fork, the MacPorts folks decided to drop support for Linux. So, while they were not explicitly removing their Linux support, they were not going to continue to update it, and if anything conflicted with macOS support, that conflict would be resolved in favor of macOS. Therefore we were on our own to to update I3 Ports, or pull in interesting developments from MacPorts. [2]

Ironically, as macOS (then OS X) developed it became ever more difficult to maintain I3 Ports on macOS. Eventually it was decided that a new package system was needed to replace I3 Ports. Homebrew was chosen as the system for macOS as several “power users” were using it personally with great success. Required software from I3 Ports was “ported” to Homebrew recipes. Unfortunately, Linux support in Homebrew at that the time was poor, so I3 Ports continued to be used. As of the end of 2015 though, Homebrew on Linux has been used successfully behind the scenes within IceCube.

Homebrew usage for IceCube

The following table assumes that we’re going to use the default instructions for using Homebrew on Linux or macOS.

macOS	Linux
Install according to the instructions	Install according to https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-on-Linux
Ensure brew is in your path: $ brew Example usage: brew search [TEXT|/REGEX/] brew (info|home|options) [FORMULA...] brew install FORMULA... brew update . . .	Ensure brew is in your path: $ brew Example usage: brew search [TEXT|/REGEX/] brew (info|home|options) [FORMULA...] brew install FORMULA... brew update . . .
Tap the Homebrew science repository: $ brew tap homebrew-science $	Tap the Homebrew science repository: $ brew tap homebrew/science $
Tap the IceCube Homebrew repository: $ brew tap icecube-spno/icecube $	Tap the Icecube Homebrew repository: $ brew tap icecube-spno/icecube $

At this point you’re now ready to install software with Homebrew. If you’re using macOS you should refer to Homebrew. Linux users should always use Homebrew as a last resort. Your package manager is the preferred way to get the software you need.

Note

Pay attention to what Homebrew installs. It should not, unexpectedly, pull in large packages like python. If it does, this is a bug, and you should stop what you’re doing and let us know on Slack.

[1]

MacPorts at that time was known as DarwinPorts. At some point there was a schism internally to that project, and DarwinPorts lost control of their domain. The decision was made to rename the project MacPorts (as that domain was available) and continue on. Eventually the “fake” DarwinPorts faded away, and MacPorts is still going strong.

[2]

Additionally, MacPorts used its own DSL implemented as a Tcl extension. This is regarded within IceCube as “unpleasant”, and IceCube’s Tcl resources are in short supply.