# Fixing a Hosed HomeBrew Installation

DevFeed: [Fixing a Hosed HomeBrew Installation](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/fixing-a-hosed-homebrew-installation-28214.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://fuzzyblog.io/blog/osx/2022/07/09/fixing-a-hosed-homebrew-installation.html>)

Author: Fuzzygroup

Published: 2022-07-09T02:40:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Scott Johnson](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/scott-johnson.md>)

Topics: [Homebrew](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/homebrew.md>), [Authorization](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/authorization.md>)

Tags: [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [blog-post](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog-post.md>), [commands](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/commands.md>), [homebrew](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/homebrew.md>), [installation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/installation.md>), [mac](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mac.md>), [osx](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/osx.md>), [permissions](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/permissions.md>)

## AI overview

A blog post describes troubleshooting a broken Homebrew installation on a Mac where /usr/local/Cellar had incorrect ownership and installations failed because of permissions issues. The author reports that bulk permission changes fixed the problem, while warning that the approach is risky and should be used at the reader's own risk.

## Source excerpt

NOTE: I'm not telling you to do this. This blog post advocates bulk permission changing and that's risky but HomeBrew was entirely broken and brew doctor did not work. And this solution did. Use at your own risk. I have two primary machines - a Mac Desktop and a dual monitor Mac Laptop. I use the laptop more mostly from habit but I'd really like to use the desktop for something that makes me feel better about it being next to me and yet rarely used. One of the reasons for two machines is one is my daily driver and one is experimental. For example, my desktop I installed NuShell on recently as I didn't (yet) trust it enough. I recently discovered that HomeBrew wouldn't install things correctly on my desktop. The issue was always permissions issues and when I dug into it, I found that /usr/local/Cellar was owned by, well, NOT me. The answer, as with so many other *nix things is chown (DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING): sudo chown -R sjohnson:wheel /usr/local/Cellar -or- that's what I thought the answer was. Unfortunately while a: brew install boost worked seemingly nicely, it failed at the final step: ==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/php/blobs/sha256:d124757fd19130379ccef3e1bd26fd082fa11a543aad37a6add6b942fb3d327e ==> Downloading from https://pkg-containers.githubusercontent.com/ghcr1/blobs/sha256:d124757fd19130379ccef3e1bd26fd082fa11a543aad37a6add6b942fb3d327e?se=2022-07-09T02%3A50%3A00Z&sig=ea5rDsciKGA8m41Nuw4d6Wkg370EFvFhExVvQkjfr1Q%3D&sp=r&spr=https&sr=b&sv=2019-12-12 ######################################################################## 100.0% ==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/postgresql/manifests/14.4 ######################################################################## 100.0% ==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/postgresql/blobs/sha256:1e258c37f55737787151ee3a5276e805e0aa4e30cf5d166bdc2208d0d7f812c2 ==> Downloading from https://pkg-containers.githubusercontent.com/ghcr1/blobs/sha256:1e258c37f55737787151ee3a5276e805e0aa4e30