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macOS & iOS Developer Playground
macOS - Development and Darwin
MacPorts and Homebrew. Which is better?
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<blockquote data-quote="knightjp" data-source="post: 1792861" data-attributes="member: 33134"><p>I know this is an old thread. Just thought that I would add in the information that I have collected over the past couple of months. Perhaps it could be useful for someone later on. </p><p></p><p>Homebrew seems to be the more popular one at the moment. With many of the packages being relatively up-to-date. The default place that it installs packages on a user based location and can be done without using a "sudo" password. This pretty much is a huge negative among diehard Unix fans. Homebrew also uses more dependencies that comes standard with MacOS which in essence does mean that it is more integrated with the OS - or so users say. The downside is that many dependencies could be outdated ones as Apples seems to use outdated BSD stuff. But say that Apple decides not to include something in the next version or upgrade, your brew software installation will break or need to reinstalled as well. </p><p></p><p>Macports fans will say that it was the one that was for a long time supported by Apple and probably still is. It sounds good if it is true and has some official Apple support. The ports and packages on Macports is larger in number, however it says that it it is not as up-to-date on Homebrew. Apparently Macports take a couple of days to update the package to the latest version.</p><p>When installing a package, you have to use a "sudo" password and it installs the software in a central location. This wins favor with many Unix people. Another thing is that Macports does not depend on any of the libraries and dependencies that comes with MacOS itself. This means that it will download and install its own. The downside is that this means that you have two different versions of certain libraries and dependencies; taking up more space on your drive. The upside is that Macports packages are not affected by software updates from Apple and do not rely on any of the outdated stuff that Apple uses.</p><p></p><p>The question on which one is better is still unanswered. Both have very valid advantages and disadvantages. Homebrew is the more popular one right now and its package number is increasing, but Macports seems to be the safer one when it comes to installations and updates. Many developers choose to have both installed. If you can't find what you need on one, you use the other.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="knightjp, post: 1792861, member: 33134"] I know this is an old thread. Just thought that I would add in the information that I have collected over the past couple of months. Perhaps it could be useful for someone later on. Homebrew seems to be the more popular one at the moment. With many of the packages being relatively up-to-date. The default place that it installs packages on a user based location and can be done without using a "sudo" password. This pretty much is a huge negative among diehard Unix fans. Homebrew also uses more dependencies that comes standard with MacOS which in essence does mean that it is more integrated with the OS - or so users say. The downside is that many dependencies could be outdated ones as Apples seems to use outdated BSD stuff. But say that Apple decides not to include something in the next version or upgrade, your brew software installation will break or need to reinstalled as well. Macports fans will say that it was the one that was for a long time supported by Apple and probably still is. It sounds good if it is true and has some official Apple support. The ports and packages on Macports is larger in number, however it says that it it is not as up-to-date on Homebrew. Apparently Macports take a couple of days to update the package to the latest version. When installing a package, you have to use a "sudo" password and it installs the software in a central location. This wins favor with many Unix people. Another thing is that Macports does not depend on any of the libraries and dependencies that comes with MacOS itself. This means that it will download and install its own. The downside is that this means that you have two different versions of certain libraries and dependencies; taking up more space on your drive. The upside is that Macports packages are not affected by software updates from Apple and do not rely on any of the outdated stuff that Apple uses. The question on which one is better is still unanswered. Both have very valid advantages and disadvantages. Homebrew is the more popular one right now and its package number is increasing, but Macports seems to be the safer one when it comes to installations and updates. Many developers choose to have both installed. If you can't find what you need on one, you use the other. [/QUOTE]
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MacPorts and Homebrew. Which is better?
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