Command Reference

Package manager commands and environment configuration across platforms.

Package Manager Commands

Installation Commands

Action macOS (brew) Ubuntu (apt) Arch (pacman)
Update package lists brew update sudo apt update sudo pacman -Sy
Install package brew install <pkg> sudo apt install <pkg> sudo pacman -S <pkg>
Remove package brew uninstall <pkg> sudo apt remove <pkg> sudo pacman -R <pkg>
Upgrade all brew upgrade sudo apt upgrade sudo pacman -Syu
Search packages brew search <query> apt search <query> pacman -Ss <query>
Show package info brew info <pkg> apt show <pkg> pacman -Si <pkg>
List installed brew list apt list --installed pacman -Q
Clean cache brew cleanup sudo apt autoclean sudo pacman -Sc

Package Manager Features

Feature macOS (brew) Ubuntu (apt) Arch (pacman)
GUI Applications ✅ Casks ❌ ❌
Taps (3rd party repos) ✅ ✅ (PPAs) ✅ (AUR)
Binary packages ✅ ✅ ✅
Source builds ✅ (rare) ❌ ✅ (AUR)
Automatic updates ❌ ✅ (optional) ❌
Parallel downloads ✅ ❌ ✅ (configurable)

PATH Configuration

Default PATH Order

/usr/local/bin      # Homebrew (Intel Mac)
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/bin            # System binaries
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin

/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin            # System binaries
/bin
~/.local/bin        # User binaries (important for our symlinks)

/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin            # System binaries
/bin
~/.local/bin        # User binaries

Version Manager Paths

These paths are added by version managers (nvm, uv) and take precedence:

# nvm (Node.js)
~/.local/share/nvm/versions/node/<version>/bin

# uv (Python)
~/.local/bin        # uv tools installed here

# Rust/Cargo
~/.cargo/bin

Shell Configuration

Shell Config File Locations

Platform Shell Main Config
macOS zsh ~/.config/zsh/.zshrc
Ubuntu zsh ~/.config/zsh/.zshrc
Arch zsh ~/.config/zsh/.zshrc

ZDOTDIR Configuration

All platforms use ~/.config/zsh/.zshrc via ZDOTDIR.

Set in terminal emulator or user environment.

Set in /etc/zsh/zshenv:

# /etc/zsh/zshenv
export ZDOTDIR="$HOME/.config/zsh"

Installation Prerequisites

Minimal Prerequisites by Platform

  • Xcode Command Line Tools (installed with Homebrew)
  • Homebrew
  • build-essential (gcc, g++, make)
  • curl, wget
  • git
  • ca-certificates, gnupg
  • base-devel (gcc, make, etc.)
  • curl, wget
  • git