Mac package installer Homebrew updated with speed enhancements & more

By Chip Loder

Homebrew, the macOS package manager, has been updated to version 4.0, and includes speed enhancements, improvements to automatic updates, and more.

Version 4.0 of Homebrew has been released. The main improvements are better performance, and automatic updates now run daily.

Support for Windows Subsystem for Linux version 1 has been dropped. If you want to run the Linux version in WSL on Windows 10 or 11, you'll need to upgrade to WSL 2.

The utility also now supports Glibc 2.13 or later. There's also a new Homebrew formula to install Python 3.11.

How to upgrade your current Homebrew installation on Mac

  1. In Terminal type brew upgrade and press Return.
  2. To run the update, type in Terminal: brew update and press Return.
  3. Optionally, you can run brew doctor in Terminal to check that everything is installed and working by entering brew doctor and press Return.

The complete 4.0 release notes are on the Homebrew site.

At least a 64-bit Intel Mac and macOS Big Sur or later are required. Apple Silicon is fully supported. You will also need the Xcode command-line tools, which are detailed on the Installation page.