Install old version of Homebrew on Snow Leopard

homebrewsnow leopard

So I have a computer that is stuck on Snow Leopard.

How do I install Homebrew on such a old computer? Is this even possible?

I tried the following command:

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

However this gives me an error about needing git and I don't know how to install an old version of that.

Best Answer

If, like me, you're not very familiar with Ruby or curl, here's a verbose (and slightly updated version) to the otherwise excellent answer by @rogerdpack:

  1. Download https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/tarball/master in a browser
  2. Make sure it's saved in ~/Downloads/ (the name will be Homebrew-brew-[latest version number etc.].tar.gz)
  3. Download https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/tarball/master in a browser
  4. Make sure it's saved in ~/Downloads/ (the name will be Homebrew-homebrew-core-[latest version number].tar)
  5. Save the install file to a file, by running this command in terminal: curl -o ~/Downloads/install.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install
  6. Edit ~/Downloads/install.txt and A. replace /usr/bin/curl -#{curl_flags} #{BREW_REPO}/tarball/master with cat ~/Downloads/Homebrew-brew-[version number etc.].tar.gz B. replace /usr/bin/curl -#{curl_flags} #{CORE_TAP_REPO}/tarball/master with cat ~/Downloads/Homebrew-homebrew-core-[version number etc.].tar.gz
  7. Install by running this command in terminal: ruby -S ~/Downloads/install.txt

In my case, the exact filenames were Homebrew-brew-1.5.14-3-g94c0d83.tar.gz and Homebrew-homebrew-core-b83864a.tar

Related Question