Glossary
Installing a Package Manager on Windows and macOS
What is a Package Manager?
Package managers are tools designed to simplify installing, updating, and managing software. They operate from the command-line interface and offer a wide range of software packages that can be installed with a single command. Package managers are free and open-source.
What are Chocolatey and Homebrew?
Chocolatey and Homebrew are package managers for Windows and macOS, respectively. They are the most popular package managers and offer a wide range of software packages that can be installed with a single command. Linux distributions have their package managers, such as apt for Ubuntu and yum for CentOS. Installing a package manager on Linux is not necessary.
Installation Steps
- Open a Command Prompt on Windows or the Terminal on macOS.
- Copy and paste the following command into the Command Prompt or Terminal:
- Press
Enterto execute the command. - Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
- Once installation is complete, close and reopen the terminal to refresh the environment variables.
- Verify the installation by running the following command:
Data Folders
Chocolatey Data Folders
Chocolatey installs software into a directory called the “Lib” folder, located by default at C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib. This directory serves as the library for all software packages managed by Chocolatey. You can list all installed packages with the choco list --local-only command and manage them using various Chocolatey commands.
Homebrew Data Folders
Homebrew installs software into a directory called the “Cellar” folder, located by default at /usr/local/Cellar. This directory serves as the library for all software packages managed by Homebrew. You can list all installed packages with the brew list command and manage them using various Homebrew commands.
