What is the difference/usage of homebrew, macports or other package installation tools?

Question

I've just recently switched to a Mac from Ubuntu. I was disappointed that mac doesn't have the convenient sudo apt-get in Ubuntu. I've heard that I should use homebrew but I'm not exactly sure what homebrew or macports does?

Answer 1

MacPorts is the way to go.

1. Like @user475443 pointed, MacPorts has many many more packages. With brew you'll find yourself trapped soon because the formula you need doesn't exist.

2. MacPorts is a native application: C + TCL. You don't need Ruby at all. To install Ruby on Mac OS X you might need MacPorts, so just go with MacPorts and you'll be happy.

3. MacPorts is really stable, in 8 years I never had a problem with it, and my entire Unix ecosystem relay on it.

4. If you are a PHP developer you can install the last version of Apache (Mac OS X uses 2.2), PHP and all the extensions you need, then upgrade all with one command. Forget to do the same with Homebrew.

5. MacPorts support groups.

   foo@macpro:~/ port select --summary
   
   Name        Selected      Options
   ====        ========      =======
   db          none          db46 none
   gcc         none          gcc42 llvm-gcc42 mp-gcc48 none
   llvm        none          mp-llvm-3.3 none
   mysql       mysql56       mysql56 none
   php         php55         php55 php56 none
   postgresql  postgresql94  postgresql93 postgresql94 none
   python      none          python24 python25-apple python26-apple python27 python27-apple none
   

   If you have both PHP55 and PHP56 installed (with many different extensions), you can swap between them with just one command. All the relative extensions are part of the group and they will be activated within the chosen group: php55 or php56. I'm not sure Homebrew has this feature.

6. Rubists like to rewrite everything in Ruby, because the only thing they are at ease is Ruby itself.