MacOS – Is it safe to upgrade Bash via Homebrew

bashhomebrewmacos

I'm new to OS X. I'm running OS X Lion on a MacBook Pro. Is it safe to upgrade the bash shell using Homebrew:

$ brew install bash

If safe, how do I make it the default instance of the shell I run through Terminal?

Thanks!

Best Answer

Binaries in /{,usr/}{,s}bin/ should not usually be replaced with other files. Other programs expect them to be the versions that came with OS X, and they are replaced by OS upgrades.

After running brew install bash, you can change the default shell safely by:

Adding /usr/local/bin/bash to /etc/shells
Running chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash.

Settings in Terminal or iTerm 2 don't normally have to be changed. Both of them default to opening new windows with a login shell of the default shell.

The default shell can also be changed from System Preferences or with dscl, but all three options just modify /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/$USER.plist.

Related Solutions

MacOS – How should I fix the Homebrew installation after upgrading OS X

brew update

Updates the Homebrew installation. If there are any errors, they should be reported by brew doctor. Try fixing them else, you could use the uninstall script as follows:

#!/bin/sh
# Just copy and paste the lines below (all at once, it won't work line by line!)
# MAKE SURE YOU ARE HAPPY WITH WHAT IT DOES FIRST! THERE IS NO WARRANTY!

function abort {
  echo "$1"
  exit 1
}

set -e

/usr/bin/which -s git || abort "brew install git first!"
test -d /usr/local/.git || abort "brew update first!"

cd `brew --prefix`
git checkout master
git ls-files -z | pbcopy
rm -rf Cellar
bin/brew prune
pbpaste | xargs -0 rm
rm -r Library/Homebrew Library/Aliases Library/Formula Library/Contributions
test -d Library/LinkedKegs && rm -r Library/LinkedKegs
rmdir -p bin Library share/man/man1 2> /dev/null
rm -rf .git
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew
rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/Homebrew
rm -rf /Library/Caches/Homebrew

And install homebrew again. Am pretty sure all this is configurable using puppet.

How to upgrade bash to v4.0+ properly

I reccomend getting Homebrew. Then run brew install bash, it will install bash 4.3.33. It's the easiest and safest way.

Then add the path to the executable to /etc/shells. For example:

/usr/local/bin/bash

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – How should I fix the Homebrew installation after upgrading OS X

How to upgrade bash to v4.0+ properly

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