Why use Homebrew to install Python?

Question

I read a lot of web guides and posted on the website about using Homebrew . When it comes to Python , however, the advice leaves me with more questions than answers.

I understand how to do this, but none of the answers I have seen so far really explained why, after using Homebrew install Python and what are the advantages of installing Python with Homebrew as opposed to using the OS-X installers provided by the Python Foundation?

The latest versions of the Python installers and the current PIP implementation seem to work very well, so I would really appreciate any input to my question. I worked with Python for a while, but with more tactics, from one point of view of solving the problem, and I'm new to tools like Brew and version control software like Git . I am trying to get a learning curve. Finding the answer to the question of why I decided to install Homebrew only to go to python.org and boot from them, and then use the package to install packages, can help me understand the benefits of a tool like Homebrew .

So, I think Homebrew giving me that through the installation installed by TPF, no?

Are there any advantages / disadvantages to where Homebrew installs Python and Python packages on top of /Library/Frameworks/ and site-packages in this structure?

Although this last question is too broad and probably beyond the scope, if someone also addresses or provides a link to a good answer about what are the benefits of using Homebrew in general, would I appreciate it?

Thanks,

Answer 1

The big advantage of using a package manager such as Homebrew makes it easy to upgrade your Python installation. If you download Python from a website, to update it you will need to return to the website and download a new copy of Python (or whatever you need to update, which could be installed using Homebrew).

In addition, when downloading installers, I find that they usually clutter up my downloads folder and require periodic cleaning of unused files. I would rather spend my time coding instead of managing disk space.

When it comes to updating any package with Homebrew, the command is simple:

 brew upgrade 

And this will update all obsolete packages that you installed using Brew.

Now this is not something unique to Homebrew. Macports, PIP, npm, Maven, and other package management tools can also control the versions of the modules or tools that you install.

For more information, see Safari Books Online - Keeping Your Homebrew Until Today .

Answer 2

A few reasons not to use system python for OS X from this post ,

• Apple doesn't always do a good job of updating the Python runtime,
• This can be cumbersome to play with permissions only for installing third-party Python libraries,
• finally, Apple has a tendency to destroy your site packages with every major OS update.

Using an independent package manager for Python modules such as Homebrew, conda, Macports, ets. is preferred.