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Homebrew: Permissions Denied Issue Fix (OS X / macOS)

Homebrew Permissions Denied Issues Solution

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*

@Tony-MK
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Tony-MK commented Oct 28, 2023

Thanks @erma4ina

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Oct 29, 2023 via email

@MrMacvos
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MrMacvos commented Nov 1, 2023

and command: sudo chown -R "$(whoami)":admin /usr/local

it ":admin" for sum in user

Thanks, this worked for me!

(macOS Ventura 13.9, Intel Mac)

@AndreasMueck
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Worked for me on Intel Mac with macOS Ventura 13.5. Thank you :)

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Nov 16, 2023 via email

@daveqs
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daveqs commented Dec 7, 2023

Worked for me on Monterey 12.6.5! (Late 2016, Intel silicon)

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Dec 7, 2023 via email

@alstjd0051
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thank you

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Dec 24, 2023 via email

@VGerris
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VGerris commented Dec 28, 2023

Although this works, this is BAD solution.
The brew prefix $(brew --prefix) is /usr/local and that directory should be accessible for all users on the system.
With only one user, setting that to the current user is no problem, but as soons as a second user is added, this does not work and breaks all the permissions for it.
The proper way to do it is to have the installer use a group and make any user that needs access a member of it, so it works for multiple users.

The group on most folders is admin so adding a user to the admin group and making sure permissions between group and user are the same at least for directories brew uses should fix this.

The command to add user john to group admin is
sudo dseditgroup -o edit -a john -t user admin

@perth-seo-agency
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None of the above worked for me. Keep getting permissions errors when updating homebrew.

Example Permission Denied Error:

/Users/{insert username}/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula_names.before.txt: Permission denied
The solution that worked was just deleting the cache files:

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Additionally, ran the following for good measure:

sudo chown -R {your username}:admin ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/
sudo chmod -R 755 ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Then reinstall Homebrew:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

@gao1143632516
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be of use

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Feb 29, 2024 via email

@sirkev
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sirkev commented Mar 22, 2024

thank you, the first solution worked for me on my headless macOS Catalina (version 10.15) ci server

@sirkev
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sirkev commented Mar 22, 2024

thank you !!! what exactly did I just do ??? 🤔🤔🤔 you saved my lifeee

the command changes the ownership of all files and directories within the Homebrew installation directory to the current user, effectively giving the current user full control over these files and directories.

i'm just coming from linux, it didn't hit me that could be the problem. like mention above this will break when you add another user. the solution by @VGerris would be much better if potentially you'd want to have other users in the system

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Mar 22, 2024 via email

@HuynhBao171
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You save my life

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Apr 24, 2024 via email

@FelipeLemosBellini
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Thank you, you are amazing

@muh-atta
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None of the above worked for me. Keep getting permissions errors when updating homebrew.

Example Permission Denied Error:

/Users/{insert username}/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula_names.before.txt: Permission denied The solution that worked was just deleting the cache files:

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Additionally, ran the following for good measure:

sudo chown -R {your username}:admin ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/
sudo chmod -R 755 ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Then reinstall Homebrew: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Worked for me. thank you!

@gregd100
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Thank you!

@PhillipMwaniki
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None of the above worked for me. Keep getting permissions errors when updating homebrew.

Example Permission Denied Error:

/Users/{insert username}/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula_names.before.txt: Permission denied The solution that worked was just deleting the cache files:

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Additionally, ran the following for good measure:

sudo chown -R {your username}:admin ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/
sudo chmod -R 755 ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Then reinstall Homebrew: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Best fix. This worked for me on Monterey v12.6.3

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented May 22, 2024 via email

@ulises-castro
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Hi, for my case the error was Error: Permission denied @ dir_s_mkdir - /private/tmp/homebrew....

And the solution was

sudo chown $(whoami):admin /private/tmp/

I just updated to MacOs Sonoma 14.5, I do not know if that was the case ...

@keith-hopkins-sada
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Hi, for my case the error was Error: Permission denied @ dir_s_mkdir - /private/tmp/homebrew....

And the solution was

sudo chown $(whoami):admin /private/tmp/

I just updated to MacOs Sonoma 14.5, I do not know if that was the case ...

This is the [fix] I am looking for.
-Unknown Stormtrooper

Also on Sonoma 14.5, but I think the issue goes back to earlier version of Sonoma for me. I've just been rebooting to clear it, but I like this better.

@ignoracenfly
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ignoracenfly commented Jun 14, 2024 via email

@bubbleee030
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None of the above worked for me. Keep getting permissions errors when updating homebrew.

Example Permission Denied Error:

/Users/{insert username}/Library/Caches/Homebrew/api/formula_names.before.txt: Permission denied The solution that worked was just deleting the cache files:

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Additionally, ran the following for good measure:

sudo chown -R {your username}:admin ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/
sudo chmod -R 755 ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/

Then reinstall Homebrew: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

worked for me on Sonoma 14.5, thanks bro

@AQF0R
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AQF0R commented Nov 27, 2024

Nice~,Think you!

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