28

How can I cleanly remove Homebrew. I might have a faulty older installation, and I'd like to have a fresh start.

2
  • 1
    See also superuser.com/questions/203707/… which has answers that describe a "now canonical" way to remove homebrew
    – rogerdpack
    Mar 11, 2016 at 18:41
  • @rogerdpack Comments may get deleted anytime, can you please post an answer describing the new method?
    – nohillside
    Mar 11, 2016 at 21:15

3 Answers 3

17

This rm -rf will not ask if you are sure when you delete, so be sure the cd command works to get you out of /tmp (the cd /tmp gets you to a safe place in case you copy/paste everything in one go so you don't delete files from your current directory)

Try this in your Terminal:

cd /tmp
cd `brew --prefix`
rm -rf Cellar
brew prune
rm `git ls-files`
rm -r Library/Homebrew Library/Aliases Library/Formula Library/Contributions
rm -rf .git
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew

More info about this topic can be found in the Homebrew FAQ.

4
6

While HomeBrew's install is prominently located on its front page, details are not. https://brew.sh/ /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" For a long time it was very difficult to find a reliable uninstall. Now, several clicks away in the docs, there is now an official method: https://docs.brew.sh/FAQ To uninstall Homebrew, paste the command below in a terminal prompt. ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/uninstall)"

1
3

Here is a much better solution for removing Homebrew: https://gist.github.com/SteveBenner/11254428

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
#
# Locates and removes Homebrew installation
# http://brew.sh/
#
# Author: Stephen Benner
# https://github.com/SteveBenner
#
require 'optparse'
require 'fileutils'
require 'open3'

$stdout.sync = true

# Default options
options = {
  :quiet     => false,
  :verbose   => true,
  :dry_run   => false,
  :force     => false,
  :find_path => false
}

optparser = OptionParser.new do |opts|
  opts.on('-q', '--quiet', 'Quiet mode - suppress output.') do |setting|
    options[:quiet]   = setting
    options[:verbose] = false
  end
  opts.on('-v', '--verbose', 'Verbose mode - print all operations.') { |setting| options[:verbose] = setting }
  opts.on('-d', '--dry', 'Dry run - print results, but perform no actual operations.') do |setting|
    options[:dry_run] = setting
  end
  opts.on('-f', '--force', 'Forces removal of files, bypassing prompt. USE WITH CAUTION.') do |setting|
    options[:force] = setting
  end
  opts.on('-p', '--find-path', 'Output homebrew location if found, then exit.') do |setting|
    options[:find_path] = setting
    options[:quiet]     = true
  end
  opts.on('-h', '--help', '--usage', 'Display usage info and quit.') { puts opts; exit }
end
optparser.parse!
$quiet = options[:quiet] # provides access to option value within methods

# Files installed into the Homebrew repository
BREW_LOCAL_FILES = %w[
  .git
  Cellar
  Library/brew.rb
  Library/Homebrew
  Library/Aliases
  Library/Formula
  Library/Contributions
  Library/LinkedKegs
]
# Files that Homebrew installs into other system locations
BREW_SYSTEM_FILES = %W[
  #{ENV['HOME']}/Library/Caches/Homebrew
  #{ENV['HOME']}/Library/Logs/Homebrew
  /Library/Caches/Homebrew
]
$files = []

# This function runs given command in a sub-shell, expecting the output to be the
# path of a Homebrew installation. If given a block, it passes the shell output to
# the block for processing, using the return value of the block as the new path.
# Known Homebrew files are then scanned for and added to the file list. Then the
# directory is tested for a Homebrew installation, and the git index is added if
# a valid repo is found. The function won't run once a Homebrew installation is
# found, but it will accumulate untracked Homebrew files each invocation.
#
# @param  [String] cmd       a shell command to run
# @param  [String] error_msg message to print if command fails
#
def locate_brew_path(cmd, error_msg = 'check homebrew installation and PATH.')
  return if $brew_location # stop testing if we find a valid Homebrew installation
  puts "Searching for homewbrew installation using '#{cmd}'..." unless $quiet

  # Run given shell command along with any code passed-in via block
  path = `#{cmd}`.chomp
  path = yield(path) if block_given? # pass command output to your own fancy code block

  begin
    Dir.chdir(path) do
      # Search for known Homebrew files and folders, regardless of git presence
      $files += BREW_LOCAL_FILES.select { |file| File.exist? file }.map {|file| File.expand_path file }
      $files += Dir.glob('**/{man,bin}/**/brew*')
      # Test for Homebrew git repository (use popen3 so we can suppress git error output)
      repo_name = Open3.popen3('git remote -v') do |stdin, stdout, stderr|
        stderr.close
        stdout.read
      end
      if repo_name =~ /homebrew.git|Homebrew/
        $brew_location = path
      else
        return
      end
    end
  rescue StandardError # on normal errors, continue program
    return
  end
end

# Attempt to locate homebrew installation using a command and optional code block
# for processing the command results. Locating a valid path halts searching.
locate_brew_path 'brew --prefix'
locate_brew_path('which brew') { |output| File.expand_path('../..', output) }
locate_brew_path 'brew --prefix' do |output|
  output = output.split($/).first
  File.expand_path('../..', output)
end

# Found Homebrew installation
if $brew_location
  puts "Homebrew found at: #{$brew_location}" unless options[:quiet]
  if options[:find_path]
    puts $brew_location
    exit
  end
  # Collect files indexed by git
  begin
    Dir.chdir($brew_location) do
      # Update file list (use popen3 so we can suppress git error output)
      Open3.popen3('git checkout master') { |stdin, stdout, stderr| stderr.close }
      $files += `git ls-files`.split.map {|file| File.expand_path file }
    end
  rescue StandardError => e
    puts e # Report any errors, but continue the script and collect any last files
  end
end

# Collect any files Homebrew may have installed throughout our system
$files += BREW_SYSTEM_FILES.select { |file| File.exist? file }

abort 'Failed to locate any homebrew files!' if $files.empty?

# DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!
unless options[:force]
  print "Delete #{$files.count} files? "
  abort unless gets.rstrip =~ /y|yes/i
end

rm =
  if options[:dry_run]
    lambda { |entry| puts "deleting #{entry}" unless options[:quiet] }
  else
    lambda { |entry| FileUtils.rm_rf(entry, :verbose => options[:verbose]) }
  end

puts 'Deleting files...' unless options[:quiet]
$files.each(&rm)
2
  • 1
    Welcome to Ask Different! While the link you provided may answer the question, it is better to include the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. I've edited your question to include what I believe was the solution that you were referring to, however if it wasn't please quote the relevant section. Also, could you expand on why your solution is better?
    – grg
    Apr 24, 2014 at 14:26
  • 1
    It's more than a few lines so I thought including the code would be cumbersome, but I'm happy to do so in the future. It's better because there are files and directories not caught by the posted answer which my script will remove. It is provides utility for the user via CLI options, searches more exhaustively for brew locations, and is coded so as to make it easy to modify in case you want to improve the script. Apr 25, 2014 at 21:45

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