## Ubuntu's Aptitude for Context
I grew up on the 'PC' side of the computing coin. I was all about Windows, though I knew other options were out there. It wasn't until I started to developing on the full-stack that I was introduced to Linux via CLI which eventually led me to give Ubuntu Desktop a try.

By far, the best part of sliding over to Linux (Ubuntu in my case) was handling most software through Aptitude, Ubuntu's package manager. Amazingly, updating the system is as simple as running two commands...

```bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
```

Aptitude will touch the sky and update my machine to the latest and greatest. Adding and removing applications and libraries is similarly straight-forward, handling all the dependencies as necessary. Life could not be easier! 

Package management is a smart move for handling software dependencies and the approach has been picked up by a number of systems and languages. Some examples include **npm** for NodeJS, **pacman** for Arch Linux, and **pip** for Python. 

##Homebrew, the OSX Package Manager
Homebrew (http://brew.sh/) is the 'missing package manager for OSX', it brings all the package management niceties to your Mac. You can install Homebrew by typing the following command in Terminal.

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

After running through the installation script, you will be able to install any of the 'formulas' (Homebrew's name for packages) available at [Homebrew Formulas](http://brewformulas.org) immediately. A popular package you might reach for as a web developer is nginx. If you search 'nginx' on Homebrew Formulas, you'll see just how easy it is to install the web server on your system.

```bash
brew install nginx
```
After Homebrew sets up nginx, you can run `sudo nginx` and your server is up and running on the default configuration. You can test this right in Terminal by using the command `curl localhost:8080`, you will get back the HTML markup for the nginx default page. 

## But wait, there's more!
You may notice some of your favorite software packages are missing from the Homebrew Formulas list. For example, you won't find Apache or PHP there, but they are some of the most popular software packages on the web! Surely, they must be supported.

And they are, but you need to look for them in different repositories. Additional repositories are available as 'taps', a full list is available at https://github.com/homebrew/repositories. You can add a 'tap' to, say, install PHP, by running the `tap` command.
```bash
brew tap homebrew/php
brew install php56
```
[Braumeister](http://braumeister.org/) is a great way to search formulas on some of these taps. 

## Homebrew Commands
Homebrew's CLI has a number of commands, here's what you'll be using most of the time. 

### See What's Installed
```bash
brew list
```
Not sure what you already have on your system? Fire off this command and it will return a list of software Homebrew is currently managing. 


### Upgrade Formulas
It's important to stay up to date and Homebrew makes it easy to upgrade software in bulk or piecemeal. 

```bash
brew update
```
The `update` command updates Homebrew and the formulas against the repositories but doesn't actually upgrade any of the software. It just lets Homebrew know what versions the software can upgrade to.

```bash
brew outdated
```
The `outdated` command shows what software packages can be updated. Included information is the current version installed and what version is available to upgrade to.

```bash
brew upgrade nginx
```
You can target specific formulas for upgrade by using the `upgrade` command with the package you'd like to upgrade.

```language-bash
brew upgrade
```
If you'd like to upgrade the whole shabang, just use `upgrade` alone.

```bash
brew pin nginx
```
You can also keep specific formulas from being upgraded when the lone `upgrade` command is used by employing the `pin` command. 

```bash
brew unpin nginx
```
To add pinned software back into the `upgrade` mix, use `unpin`


### Remove Formulas
```bash
brew uninstall nginx --force
```
To remove a formula, you use the `uninstall` command with the `--force` flag. Use this command with care. 


### Troubleshooting Issues
```bash
brew update
brew doctor
```
Sometimes system software updates or other such upgrades can leave some packages broken and unusable. Homebrew usually just needs to do a quick check of the system and make some changes to the software packages accordingly, or will instruct you on ways to resolve any issues plaguing Homebrew software. You can run `doctor` to do just that. Always run `update` before `doctor`.

---
Sources:
 
- https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/blob/master/share/doc/homebrew/FAQ.md
- http://matthewcarriere.com/2013/08/05/how-to-install-and-use-homebrew/

Homebrew (http://brew.sh/) is the 'missing package manager for OSX', it brings all the package management niceties to your Mac.

OSX Package Management with Homebrew

I'm sure you can relate to this scenario -- You fire up a fresh Ubuntu server with intention of running a node app on it. 

You install NodeJs and npm using Aptitude...

```bash
sudo apt-get updaxte
sudo apt-get install nodejs npm
```

Everything installs correctly, but when you run node-based scripts, you get the following...

```bash
sh: 1: node: not found
```

... with a whole lot of errors along with it. 

What the heck? Node was literally just installed, how is it that it can't be found? 

The issue rests with another application called 'node' that comes pre-installed on Ubuntu. To avoid conflicting with this application, the command to launch NodeJS uses 'nodejs' instead of 'node'.

To check if this is truly the case in your situation, simply run 'nodejs' in shell and it should show the NodeJS command prompt ($>, hit ctrl+c twice to hop out). If you aren't getting the Nodejs prompt, you likely don't have NodeJS installed at all, go ahead and try to install using the commands above. 

Once we've confirmed this is the case, all we have to do is tell the system, "We appreciate your concern, but want the command 'node' to launch NodeJS and not that other application". This is done by symlinking the command 'node' to 'nodejs' using the following command...

```bash
sudo ln -s "$(which nodejs)" /usr/bin/node
```

That's it! Try running your NodeJS application and and it should now be working. 

NodeJS doesn't work with 'node' but does with 'nodejs', run `sudo ln -s "$(which nodejs)" /usr/bin/node`

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Good Times in Web Development

ubuntu

OSX Package Management with Homebrew

Node: Not Found? But I Just Installed It!