Homebrew fails on MacOS Big Sur

Question

I upgraded from Mohave to Big Sur and found that homebrew is not working any more. I installed the command line tools using the command

xcode-select --install

After I run brew list, I get the following error

~ brew list
Traceback (most recent call last):
    11: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb:23:in `<main>'
    10: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb:23:in `require_relative'
     9: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/global.rb:37:in `<top (required)>'
     8: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.3/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
     7: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.3/lib/ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:54:in `require'
     6: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os.rb:3:in `<top (required)>'
     5: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os.rb:21:in `<module:OS>'
     4: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/mac.rb:58:in `prerelease?'
     3: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/mac.rb:24:in `version'
     2: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/mac.rb:24:in `new'
     1: from /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/mac/version.rb:26:in `initialize'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/version.rb:368:in `initialize': Version value must be a string; got a NilClass () (TypeError)

I tried by deleting the folder /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools and installing the Command Line Tools for Xcode 12.3 beta but still I am getting the same error. Is there any way to make brew work?

You should run `brew doctor`, fix the warnings, then try again. I don’t have any issue. — bfontaine, Nov 13 '20 at 13:52
I faced the same error. The reason was the installed Homebrew's version was too old. I've run `cd /opt/homebrew; git fetch; git reset --hard origin/master` (my homebrew's dir is /opt/homebrew). It worked well for me. — Yasuharu Nakano, Nov 14 '20 at 12:43
Try resetting the xcode-select with `sudo xcode-select -r` xcode-select -p should give `/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer` ~ — sdayal, Nov 14 '20 at 12:48

score 168 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 15 '20 at 02:19

168

You should update brew;

brew update-reset

answered Nov 15 '20 at 02:19

夏溪辰

1,681
1
4
4

Works for me. The warning message is gone. – Leonardo Nov 20 '20 at 14:35
1

I was performing a brand new install, not an update, on Big Sur, and got a completely different error message, but the update-reset command worked for me. Thanks! Here was my error message in case it helps anyone else: "error: Not a valid ref: refs/remotes/origin/master fatal: ambiguous argument 'refs/remotes/origin/master': unknown revision or path not in the working tree." – Mary Hamlin Jan 19 '21 at 01:03
7

I had to do this before I could do brew upgrade. – John Jan 29 '21 at 01:34
it works for me with only this command and without brew upgrade – Jun Mar 11 '21 at 19:39
This worked for me, thank you so much for the help. I'd tried brew update but didn't know about the `update-reset` command. Cheers! – nhuesmann Jul 02 '21 at 22:28
This should be the answer - cleared up the many problems brew was having. After I ran `brew update-reset` I could then run `brew upgrade` and the many outdated packages installed successfully! – rushkeldon Aug 10 '21 at 01:06
Probably the best solution. Works for macOS Monterey preview too, I can attest to that. After using this solution, perform `brew update-reset`. – Roast Biter Aug 15 '21 at 00:43
Thank you! solved me a terrible issue with homebrew that I couldn't solve in any other way, including deleting and re-installing homebrew – Ofir Kariv Dec 04 '21 at 13:03
Got this: `Fetching /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-boneyard... Username for 'github.com':` .... I hit enter for it and password... Then later went in search of homebrew-boneyard and found this https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/issues/5820 ... The command `brew untap homebrew/boneyard` resolved that issue. – JGFMK Aug 24 '22 at 02:18

score 101 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 14 '20 at 12:43

101

I had the same problem. Try upgrading brew - this solved it for me.

brew upgrade

answered Nov 14 '20 at 12:43

andrmu

1,042
1
5
2

1

I encountered a handful of errors while running this on macOS Big Sur, including: File ownership, File permissions, Xcode outdated – vsm Feb 23 '21 at 17:55
9

I got the same error running this command. – Searene Mar 16 '21 at 08:49

Cassio Seffrin · Answer 3 · 2021-02-14T19:59:59.623

15

I have solved my problem reinstalling brew with this script (install.sh):

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

Then:

brew --version

output:

Homebrew 3.0.1
Homebrew/homebrew-core (git revision 47e5d; last commit 2021-02-14)

Then just proceed with: xcode-select --install

edited Feb 14 '21 at 19:59

answered Feb 14 '21 at 13:51

Cassio Seffrin

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score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 20 '21 at 10:50

After upgrading brew

brew upgrade

I got the following message:

Your Command Line Tools (CLT) does not support macOS 11.
It is either outdated or was modified.
Please update your Command Line Tools (CLT) or delete it if no updates are 
available.
Update them from Software Update in System Preferences or run:
  softwareupdate --all --install --force

If that doesn't show you any updates, run:
  sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
  sudo xcode-select --install

Alternatively, manually download them from:
  https://developer.apple.com/download/more/.

Error: An exception occurred within a child process:

According to the instructions I ran the following commands:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
sudo xcode-select --install

and again ran

brew upgrade

And finally it worked.

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 22 '21 at 19:59

7

You should update brew;

brew update-reset

answered Jan 22 '21 at 19:59

HenryTien

105
1
2

it worked for me....brew upgrade wasn't working for me – Dhruvam Gupta May 05 '21 at 05:56

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 16 '20 at 06:06

6

If you run brew upgrade still meet the error, maybe you should run brew update first.

My experience is:

1. brew update
2. brew doctor
3. brew upgrade

answered Nov 16 '20 at 06:06

Terry

61
1

1

Warning: You are using macOS 11.0. We do not provide support for this released but not yet supported version. You will encounter build failures with some formulae. Please create pull requests instead of asking for help on Homebrew's GitHub, Twitter or any other official channels. You are responsible for resolving any issues you experience while you are running this released but not yet supported version. – Takatjuta Nov 18 '20 at 03:00

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 15 '22 at 01:22

4

I had MacOS Big Sur & nothing work for me even all answers of this question But Except one thing works with me:

brew update-reset

answered Jun 15 '22 at 01:22

Abdennour TOUMI

87,526
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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 21 '22 at 06:58

2

I had the same problem, "brew update" wouldn't work, "brew upgrade" also didn't work, did the following:

brew update-reset

and then

brew upgrade

Now working fine.

Cheers,

H

answered Feb 21 '22 at 06:58

Heider Sati

2,476
26
28

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 23 '20 at 10:47

1

When I follow @andrmu instructions, I received an error stating Homebrew: Your CLT does not support macOS 11.0.. I had to first follow the instructions to clean upgrade my command line tools as per the top answer on this issue, then it worked..

answered Nov 23 '20 at 10:47

adstr123

63
3
10

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Mar 01 '21 at 06:07

1

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

This worked for me

edited Mar 01 '21 at 06:07

Suraj Rao

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answered Mar 01 '21 at 05:55

vijeesh

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score 0 · Answer 11 · edited Mar 01 '21 at 06:07

0

After brew upgrade this did the trick to avoid tmp/mysql.sock error. Use commandline command:

sudo chmod -R 0777 /usr/local/var/mysql/

edited Mar 01 '21 at 06:07

Suraj Rao

29,388
11
94
103

answered Dec 24 '20 at 13:04

PKings

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Homebrew fails on MacOS Big Sur

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