Homebrew Guide - Modern Mac Software Discovery

Homebrew Guide Modern Mac Software Discovery & Management

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What Replaced MacUpdate & VersionTracker?

If you remember sites like MacUpdate and VersionTracker, you know how useful it was to have a central place to discover and track Mac software updates. The Mac App Store changed the landscape, and many of these sites declined or became cluttered with ads.

Today, Homebrew has become the de facto package manager for macOS. Combined with VersTracker, you get the best of both worlds: a powerful command-line tool to install and update software, plus a web interface to browse and discover packages.

Other useful resources:

Applite — GUI for Homebrew casks
Latest — Free, open-source app update checker
r/macapps — Reddit community for Mac app discovery
AlternativeTo — Find alternatives to any software

Getting Started with Homebrew

Install Homebrew by pasting this in Terminal: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" Key concepts:

Formulae — Command-line tools (e.g., brew install git)
Casks — GUI applications (e.g., brew install --cask firefox)
Taps — Third-party repositories for additional packages

Essential commands:

brew search <name>      # Find packages
brew info <name>        # Get package details
brew install <name>     # Install a formula
brew install --cask <name>  # Install a GUI app
brew list               # See what's installed

Setting Up a Brewfile

A Brewfile is like a shopping list for your Mac software. It lets you backup your installed packages and restore them on a new machine with one command.

Create a Brewfile from your current installs: brew bundle dump --file=~/Brewfile Example Brewfile:

# Taps
tap "homebrew/bundle"
tap "homebrew/cask-fonts"

# CLI Tools
brew "git"
brew "node"
brew "python"
brew "ripgrep"

# Applications
cask "visual-studio-code"
cask "firefox"
cask "rectangle"
cask "iterm2"

# Fonts
cask "font-fira-code"

Install everything from a Brewfile: brew bundle --file=~/Brewfile Tip: Keep your Brewfile in a git repository or cloud storage to easily set up new Macs.

Custom App Install Location

By default, Homebrew installs GUI apps to /Applications. You can change this per-install or globally.

Install a single app to a custom location: brew install --cask --appdir="~/Applications" some-app Set a global default by adding to your ~/.zshrc: export HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS="--appdir=~/Applications" This is useful if you want to keep Homebrew-managed apps separate from App Store apps, or if you don't have admin rights to /Applications.

Keeping Your Apps Updated

Homebrew makes it easy to keep everything up to date:

# Refresh the package list
brew update

# See what's outdated
brew outdated

# Upgrade all packages
brew upgrade

# Also upgrade apps with auto-updaters (Chrome, Slack, etc.)
brew upgrade --greedy-auto-updates

# Preview what --greedy would upgrade
brew outdated --greedy-auto-updates

Automate updates by adding a cron job or using launchd. A simple approach:

# Add to crontab (crontab -e)
0 9 * * * /opt/homebrew/bin/brew update && /opt/homebrew/bin/brew upgrade

Cleanup old versions:

brew cleanup        # Remove old versions
brew autoremove     # Remove unused dependencies

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened to MacUpdate and VersionTracker?

MacUpdate and VersionTracker were popular Mac software directories in the pre-App Store era. MacUpdate still exists but has declined in relevance. The original VersionTracker was acquired and eventually shut down. Today, most Mac users discover software through the App Store, Homebrew, Reddit communities like r/macapps, or sites like VersTracker that track Homebrew packages.

Is Homebrew safe to use?

Yes, Homebrew is safe and widely trusted. It is open source, hosted on GitHub, and maintained by a large community. Homebrew downloads packages from official sources and verifies checksums. It is used by millions of developers and Mac users worldwide.

How do I keep all my Mac apps updated?

For Homebrew-installed apps, run "brew update" to refresh the package list, then "brew upgrade" to update all packages. Use "brew upgrade --greedy-auto-updates" to also update apps that have their own auto-update mechanisms. You can see what needs updating with "brew outdated --greedy-auto-updates".

What is a Brewfile?

A Brewfile is a plain text file that lists all your Homebrew packages, casks, and taps. It allows you to backup your installed software and restore it on a new Mac with a single command. Create one with "brew bundle dump" and install from it with "brew bundle".

Where does Homebrew install apps?

Homebrew installs command-line tools (formulae) to /opt/homebrew on Apple Silicon Macs or /usr/local on Intel Macs. GUI applications (casks) are installed to /Applications by default, but you can change this with the --appdir flag or HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS environment variable.

Using VersTracker

VersTracker monitors all 16,239 Homebrew packages and shows you what's new and updated.

Home — See recent updates and new packages
Browse All Packages — Search and filter the full catalog
Categories — Browse by software category
Tags — Explore by tag
RSS Feed — Subscribe to updates in your feed reader
API — Access package data programmatically