Unable to install brew with .pkg installer

[arif-desu]

Output of brew config

NA

Output of brew doctor

NA

Description of issue

I am trying to install homebrew for the first time using .pkg installer. I use a standard user account and enter my admin credentials when installing apps pkg installers or moving dmg file to /Applications directory.

I am on macOS 13.5. After entering the admin credentials, the only prompt I get is "Installation Failed".

[SMillerDev]

/private/var/log/install.log is where macOS packages log there errors. You'll have to find out from there what the issue is.

[arif-desu]

Why is this a thing on macOS, which would be consistent across users? This is not Linux we are talking about where someone might have configured their system differently than the masses.

I could try installing from the admin user account, but as I've seen through the command line method, brew changes ownership of the directory to the user installing Brew. If that is the case here as well, I wouldn't be able to execute commands from the standard user account which I am using a 100% of time. I might have to change ownership with chown after installation.

Seriously why even install in /opt directory when you guys changing the ownership from root to the user, might as well have been user's home directory.

[SMillerDev]

Why is this a thing on macOS, which would be consistent across users? This is not Linux we are talking about where someone might have configured their system differently than the masses.

Not sure, it's your system that's failing. Not mine or anyone else so far.

I could try installing from the admin user account, but as I've seen through the command line method, brew changes ownership of the directory to the user installing Brew. If that is the case here as well, I wouldn't be able to execute commands from the standard user account which I am using a 100% of time. I might have to change ownership with chown after installation.

Yes, since multi user isn't a supported.

Seriously why even install in /opt directory when you guys changing the ownership from root to the user, might as well have been user's home directory.

The /opt/Homebrew directory doesn't install before brew so it is not ever owned by root. You're mistaking it for /usr/local which Homebrew is moving away from.

[arif-desu]

So I just checked installing some programs using pkg installers and wasn't able to install a single one. Looks like Installer doesn't have permission to my Downloads directory. Looked it up on internet and looks like a common issue.

Moved the pkg installer to Desktop directory, and on starting the installation, I was prompted that "Installer would like to access the Desktop directory" which I granted permission to, and it installed fine this time.

I would like to comment on the last point though. Why not just install to user's home directory and add this location to system PATH? The security after-effects would be the same to my understanding.

[SMillerDev]

Why not just install to user's home directory and add this location to system PATH? The security after-effects would be the same to my understanding.

You can, that's just not the default location.

[Bo98]

Why not just install to user's home directory and add this location to system PATH?

The nature of some binaries is they bake in install directories and are not relocatable. We would be unable to distribute prebuilt binaries if we installed to the home directory as every user would have a different install location due to different usernames.

While Homebrew itself can work installed to a non-default location, some packages will be built from source (which can be slow) when installed if they are known to not be relocatable.

For comparison, MacPorts installs to /opt/local and Fink installs to /opt/sw.