Software Alternatives & Reviews

pkgsrc VS Homebrew

Compare pkgsrc VS Homebrew and see what are their differences

pkgsrc logo pkgsrc

pkgsrc is a framework for building over 17,000 open source software packages.

Homebrew logo Homebrew

The missing package manager for macOS
  • pkgsrc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-30
  • Homebrew Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-29

pkgsrc

Categories
  • Developer Tools
  • Package Manager
  • Front End Package Manager
  • Containers As A Service
Website pkgsrc.org
Details $

Homebrew

Categories
  • Package Manager
  • Windows Tools
  • Front End Package Manager
  • Developer Tools
Website brew.sh
Details $

pkgsrc videos

pkgsrc on ChromeOS

More videos:

  • Review - Using pkgsrc for multi-platform deployments in heterogeneous environments, G Clifford Williams

Homebrew videos

Homebrew Review: Coopers Lager - Taste Test

More videos:

  • Review - Homebrew Review | Alchemist Class by Mage Hand Press (featuring Designer Mike Holik)
  • Review - Northern Brewer Cream Ale Homebrew Review Tasting

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to pkgsrc and Homebrew)
Package Manager
11 11%
89% 89
Front End Package Manager
Developer Tools
14 14%
86% 86
Windows Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using pkgsrc and Homebrew. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Homebrew seems to be a lot more popular than pkgsrc. While we know about 876 links to Homebrew, we've tracked only 8 mentions of pkgsrc. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

pkgsrc mentions (8)

  • Installing packages without an internet connection?
    It seems according to pkgsrc.org that pkgin might follow the PKG_PATH environment variable. You're supposed to set PKG_PATH="http://cdn.NetBSD.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/$(uname -p)/$(uname -r|cut -f '1 2' -d.)/All/", and according to uname(1), -p gives the processor architecture and -r gives the operating system [kernel] release. Source: about 1 year ago
  • pkgsrc.se is no more :(
    It seems like pkgsrc.org hasn’t got the news yet. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Slackware 15.0
    I still have a Slackware install that runs some really old stuff I have. I remember working at AN ISP in the 90s and slack was are secure distro. All the important stuff (authentication, configs, etc.) were stored and served from our 'slack pool'. Funny part is now I do a very basic Slackware install that setup pkgsrc (https://pkgsrc.org) on it so I can really experience the best and worst of times! - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Cross-platform package management: Comprehensive comparison of Pkgsrc and Ravenports article published
    Today the second article on cross-platform package management has been published. It features a short description of what Pkgsrc and Ravenports are and a longer part on how they compare. The test environment and procedure is covered and of course the results are presented. At the end a conclusion is drawn. Source: over 2 years ago
  • First article on cross-platform package management published
    The second one will contain the results of our two months evaluation of Pkgsrc on multiple platforms and a comparison with Ravenports. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Homebrew mentions (876)

  • Tools for Linux Distro Hoppers
    Hopping from one distro to another with a different package manager might require some time to adapt. Using a package manager that can be installed on most distro is one way to help you get to work faster. Flatpak is one of them; other alternative are Snap, Nix or Homebrew. Flatpak is a good starter, and if you have a bunch of free time, I suggest trying Nix. - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • SQLite Schema Diagram Generator
    Are you using SQLite that ships with macOS, or SQLite installed from homebrew? I had a different problem in the past with the SQLite that ships with macOS, and have been using SQLite from homebrew since. So if it’s the one that comes with macOS that gives you this problem that you are having, try using SQLite from homebrew instead. https://brew.sh/. - Source: Hacker News / 24 days ago
  • How to install (Ubuntu 22.10 VM) vagrant on Mac M1 ship using QEMU
    Before we begin, make sure you have Homebrew installed on your Mac. Homebrew is a package manager that makes it easy to install software and dependencies. You can install Homebrew by following the instructions on their website: https://brew.sh/. - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Perfect Elixir: Environment Setup
    I’m on MacOS and erlang.org, elixir-lang.org, and postgresql.org all suggest installation via Homebrew, which is a very popular package manager for MacOS. - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • You're Installing Node.js Wrong. That's OK, Here Is How To Fix It 🙌
    I have always either installed Node from the installer provided by the Nodejs website or, via Brew in macOS. I have also used nvm in the past but did not know that there was a best practice to guide us. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing pkgsrc and Homebrew, you can also consider the following products

Conda - Binary package manager with support for environments.

Chocolatey - The sane way to manage software on Windows.

Portage - Portage is source-based package manager used by Gentoo and its descendants. It controls all process from fetching source through building it, installing into clean environment to "merging" with already installed software.

iTerm2 - A terminal emulator for macOS that does amazing things.

MacPorts - The MacPorts Project is an open-source community initiative to design an easy-to-use system for compiling, installing, and upgrading either command-line, X11 or Aqua based open-source software on the Mac OS X operating system.

Visual Studio Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft